Casts, Boredom, and Confusion
by Ggirl
Summary: [L/L, R/J/T] Epilogue up! Lorelai and Luke finally start to admit their feelings. Then tragedy strikes.. Rory meets Tristan at Harvard... I suck at summaries, I swear it's more interesting/funnier than it sounds! *FINISHED*
1. Boredom and Luke's

**Title**: Casts, Boredom, and Confusion **Author**: Ggirl... yeah guess what that stands for?! **Disclaimer:** Unfortunately, I don't own these characters and this story is just a big agglomeration of my crazy ideas =) **Rating**: Very good! hehe jpjp, PG **Summary**: With Rory off at college, Lorelai was bored out of her mind. Then one night, she and Luke kiss and everything in her world turns upside down. Sookie has a baby and doesn't really have that much time for Lorelai anymore. So Lorelai is struggling to figure out her feelings for Luke, when tragedy hits. Luke hopes it's not too late for him to tell her how he feels. Rory meets Tristan at Harvard and Paris is upset/happy. When Tristan takes an interest in Paris, both girls are a little suspicious. But then Rory does something to destory the fine threads that hold them together.. ON TOP OF ALL THIS... Jess is trying to get Rory back and Dean makes a couple of appearances.. ****************************** Lorelai flopped down on the couch with a mug. She sipped some coffee and sighed out loud. "So...," she said. "Hm..." She looked around her and eventually her gaze stopped at a pile of mail on the side table.  
She set her coffee down and picked up a magazine. "Better Homes and Gardens," She read out loud and made a face. "I didn't even know we had a subscription to this."  
Flipping through the magazine, Lorelai said, "Blah, blah, blah. What a bunch of hokey pokey."   
Sighing, she tossed the magazine over her head. It landed with a thunk on the floor. "AHHHHHHHHH! The boredom is killing me!" She yelled. With Rory gone, life was too quiet. She didn't have anyone to eat junk food, watch movies, and make fun of everything and anything that came their way. Lorelai pushed herself up from the couch and grabbed her jacket. She needed more coffee. ******************************* Luke grabbed the coffee and swung around to a table near the window. "Is that it?"   
The lady looked up at him. "Yeah, thanks," she replied.  
Nodding, he walked back to the counter. "Hey, can you take my order?" a man yelled from the corner table. "Sure, coming," Luke set down the coffee and walked over.   
"Hm.. I'll take a hamburger.. no, wait, how are your salads?" He asked.   
"Good," Luke answered. The man peered at him. "Just good?"   
"Great, they're great," Luke replied. He waved his hands around. "Awesome, amazing."   
"I see... how about the turkey club?" The man pointed to an item on the menu.   
"It'll take your breath away," Luke said sarcastically.  
"Okay.... I'll just have a hamburger then." The man said. "Well done. But not too well done. A littel crisp maybe."   
"Okaaaaaaay," Luke said.   
"But not too crisp!"   
"Gotcha," Luke nodded and started to walk back to the counter. "Caeser! Hamburger, well done not too well!" Leaning against the counter, he was finally able to catch his breath. Luke looked up as the door opened. His breath caught in his throat when he saw who it was.  
"Hey, Luke," Lorelai said as she slid into the nearest open seat. "Looks busy," she remarked.   
"Yeah," he replied as he adjusted his hat.   
"The usual," she said.  
"Coffee?" "Yeah," He fetched the coffee and a mug. Luke set it down on the table in front of Lorelai.  
"So," she said, looking up at him.   
Luke cleared his throat and concentrated on the coffee.   
"How's Jess doing?"  
"Good, I think he likes college," Luke said.  
"Great, that's great," Lorelai said nodding. She looked around the bustling diner.   
"Yup. How's Rory?" Luke said.   
"Good. You know how she is. She loves school," Lorelai smiled wistfully. "I miss her."   
Luke finally looked at her. "I can imagine."   
"I'm bored without her. I'm going crazy without her! Sounds like material for a Backstreet Boy song," she sighed and cupped her hands around the warm mug. She suddenly looked up at him. "Luke, is it always going to be weird between us?"   
"Huh?" He put the coffee down and looked at her.   
"It was just one night," she said.  
"I know......," He caught her gaze. "I, uh, gotta get back up there." 


	2. Kiki and Coffee

"Wait, Luke," Lorelai stood up suddenly.   
"What?" He turned around.   
"Look, I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to make it so awkward between us," Lorelai said. "I don't know, I guess I was just feeling depressed and emotional... I had the red dot special...."  
"Okay, too much information," he interrupted.   
"Sorry, sorry," She hung her head. "I feel so disconnected without Rory... I feel stupid about it, but I do. I feel lost and bored. And I have no friends..."   
Luke had an urge to hold her but he knew that Star's Hollow was probably watching them at that very second.   
"I noticed you don't have your usual spark," he commented.   
"Yeah, I guess so," She sat back down. They both reveled in the bustle around them.   
"Look.. it's okay," He finally said. "It was a friendly kiss, right?" 'Wasn't friendly to you,' he thought.  
She nodded. 'No, it wasn't.' she thought. "Right.. so everything's okay between us?"  
"Sure, just peachy," he forced a smile. She smiled back at him. 'Why don't you tell her you like her?!' he thought. 'I'm such a coward.' ************************ "Sookie!!!!" Jackson panicked as he held the tiny baby in his arms. Sookie rushed into the room.   
"What? What?" She looked right and left.  
"I think she smiled at me," Jackson said and beamed.  
"REALLY?" Sookie peered over his shoulder. "Oh my little honey bunny.. who's little girl are you? Coochie coochieee!" She tickled her daughter's chin. Jackson cradled little Kiki in his arms.   
"We're the luckiest parents in the world!" He smiled at Sookie.   
"Yup we are! Okay, honey, I'm going to go back to my pudding now," She kissed Jackson on the cheek and hustled back to the kitchen. "I want to take it to Lorelai before dinner."  
"How is Lorelai these days? I haven't seen much of her." Jackson called from the living room.  
"Ahh.. I think she's okay... OOps! Just dropped the spoon in the pudding," Sookie replied. "I know she misses Rory a lot."   
"Yeah, I can imagine. I can't imagine sending little Kiki off to college, right, Kiki? You wouldn't leave Mommy and Daddy?" Jackson kissed Kiki on the forehead just as she spit up all over his shirt. "Hm, well you're going to learn how to keep your food down first." Kiki gurgled and smiled. ************************ Lorelai waved a 'bye' to Luke as he cradled three dishes in his arms. He nodded at her and she pushed open the diner door. Star's Hollow was quiet in the dusk. She walked over the gazebo and leaned against it to stare at the sunset. She wasn't sure why she had kissed Luke that night. It had been so abrupt that she hadn't even know what as happening. One moment, she was crying at the counter where he was standing. The next, he was standing next to her and patting her on the shoulder.   
And when she turned to him, she saw something in his eyes. She just kissed him. She didn't know why. But she knew one thing. He kissed her back. 


	3. Harvard and Coffee at Luke's

Rory couldn't help grinning as she walked through Harvard Square. She was finally at the college of her dreams and she felt great.   
"Paris!" She waved to Paris, who was fervently explaining something to a professor. Paris nodded a hello and went back to talking. Rory plopped down on the plush green grass and lay out in the sun. Then she heard a familiar voice.  
"Hey, Mary." Rory opened one eye.   
"Hey, Mary, you dead or something?" She opened the other.  
"Tristan?"  
Tristan grinned at her in his usual cocky way. "Hi," he said.  
"What are you doing here?" Rory sat up and stared at him.  
"I go here," he smiled and sat down next to her.   
"Here?" she gaped at him. "Harvard?"  
"Why are you so surprised?" He asked.  
"I'm not.. just I didn't expect to see you here," she swallowed nervously.   
"I cleaned up in military school," he answered her tacit question.   
"Oo, yeah! Your immense body odor is totally gone!" she said sarcastically. Rory raised an eyebrow at his preppy clothes.  
"I didn't choose the clothes.. my mom did," he explained.   
"Okay, A&F boy," Rory replied.  
" So.. how's it going?"   
"Good, I guess," She replied, nodding.   
"You love it here, don't you?" He grinned mischeviously.   
"Maybe," she couldn't help but crack a smile.   
"Rory! Oh my gosh! Prof Randall said that I could hand it...," Paris stopped short in her tracks. "Tristan?"  
"Hm... it seems to be deja vu day," He said. "Hi, Paris."   
"Are you here to visit someone?" Paris asked.   
"No, I go here," Tristan replied calmly.  
"Here? Harvard?" Paris looked shocked.   
Tristan looked at Rory. "Why is everyone so surprised? Am I that stupid?"  
Rory shook her head. "No, we just didn't expect to see you here."  
"So I hear," Tristan said, shaking his head. ************************** BEeep Beeep BEEP! Lorelai groaned and smacked the alarm clock. "ROrryyyy!" She yelled. "Time to..."  
She stopped short and sat up. Rory wasn't here. SHe sighed loudly and got out of bed.   
"Time to haul ass to the shower," Lorelai said. When Rory had gotten the acceptance letter in June, Lorelai had been excited for her. She would meet guys, study with some of the most intelligent people in the world, have fun.... leave Star's Hollow. When she thought of that last part, her heart fell, but she didn't let her face show it. It was Rory's dream to go to Harvard. Too bad that Lorelai hadn't thought of Rory actually leaving.   
'Were you going to keep her locked up her room forever?' she thought. 'Well, it wouldn't be so bad if she had all those books and the entire season of SpongeBob Squarepants on video!'  
After a hot shower, she felt better but she definitely needed her caffeine fix. She rapidly searched the cabinets for some coffee. Nothing.  
"AHHHHH!" she said. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Should she go to Luke's?   
She felt strange around him, even after their talk last night. Probably because they both knew that it was more than a friendly kiss. But he was the one who had said it, not her.   
The phone's ringing broke her thoughts. She let the machine run.  
"Hey, it's Lorelai, you know what to do... OW, jammed my toe."  
BEEP. "Lorelai, it's your mother, pick up the phone.... Lorelai, I know you're there. Okay, if you must be stubborn, I'll just tell it to your machine. But you know how much I hate talking to machines. And what is going on with your messages.. is that toe thing supposed to be a joke? I don't find it funny, Lorelai. As a businesswoman, you should create a professional and refined message, not some message that talks about your jamming your toe. And that loud 'Ow' is absolutely obnoxious..."  
Lorelai rolled her eyes and went to the hall closet to find her jacket.   
"... date...."   
Lorelai opened her eyes widely at the word 'date'. She ran to the answering machine to catch the last bits of her mother's message.   
"So, we'll see you tomorrow, Lorelai." The message ended.  
Lorelai rewinded the message and played it back.  
".. your father and I met this nice young man at the Schiffer's party last night and we invited him for dinner. You're not getting any younger, you know. We invited him for dinner and you're coming. But don't think of it as a date. Just put on that nice black dress you have.. or maybe that blue one, it brings the color out in your eyes... His name is Preston Bauer III and he's the CEO of some really big, important company..."   
Lorelai wanted to scream. She knew she wasn't getting any younger ; at 35, she was worried that she might never find the one for her. And with Christopher busy with the new baby and Sherry, she really didn't have anyone.  
"To Luke's!" she promulgated as she grabbed her jacket. "I need like 19 cups of coffee right now," she said. Shrugging, she said aloud to herself, "Less than yesterday!" ************************** Luke was busy with breakfast orders and didn't notice Lorelai slip in.  
"Hey, Mister!" She yelled across the room. He looked up and couldn't help but smile.   
"Hey," he said and walked over.   
"I could use some coffee," Lorelai added in her Louis Armstrong voice.  
"Stop that." Luke frowned.   
"OOoo, can't you see I need coffee? Listen to this voice," Lorelai growled. "Gimme a cup or ten."   
"Alright, but it's gonna kill you one day," Luke replied, pouring her a cup.  
"If I can sit through a Spice Girls concert, I can drink 14 cups of coffee," Lorelai remarked in her regular voice as she took a sip.  
"You're looking better today," Luke said.  
"Well, honey, I loook fiiiiiiiineee every day!" Lorelai quipped. Luke winced at the 'honey'.  
" Yeah, I feel better.. you know, especially since we cleared up that incident between us." Lorelai took another sip. "Good coffee, Lukey."  
"Don't call me that." Luke said. 'Right.. we cleared it up...,' he thought. 'Maybe you cleared it up.. but I didn't tell you one part of it.'   
"Well, maybe I'll finish the other 13 cups later. I have to run to work." Lorelai flashed him a smile that almost melted him on the spot.   
'That'd be smooth, Luke,' he thought. "See you later," he said as he watched her leave. He was always watching her leave. ======================================================================= I hope you guys like this so far. =) -Ggirl 


	4. Sookie's back, Tristan, and Even More Co...

Michel was standing at the counter when Lorelai breezed through the door.   
"HA! I'm early today." She said proudly.   
"Yes, you get a gold star," He said sarcastically. "Mr. Gates called about the wedding." Michel said in his usual annoying voice.  
"Oh, okay, I'll call him back later." Lorelai shrugged and started to take off her jacket.   
"Lorelai!" Lorelai turned around to see Sookie coming through the door with a dish in her hands.   
"I made you pudding!"  
"Sookie! What are you doing here? You should out spending quality time with Kiki and Jackson," Lorelai reprimanded. "You don't come to work on your days off."   
"Oh, hon, I'm not here for work, I'm here to give you the pudding... although, I am kind of getting bored of cooking and no one eating any of the food I cook...," Sookie said thoughtfully.   
"Mmm... pudding!" Lorelai took the dish that Sookie gave to her and carefully opened the lid. "Yummy... Dinner for tonight. Is that butterscotch?"   
"Yup!" Sookie beamed. "With chocolate chips and cocoa powder."   
"You're amazing, Sookie," Lorelai said. She closed the lid on the dish and put it behind the counter. "I'll save that for later."   
"How come you don't come visit me these days? You have to come see Kiki again," Sookie said.  
Lorelai cocked her head. "Well, you know, I've been busy. But I'm going to come by tomorrow. Is that okay?"   
Sookie smiled. "As if you have ever called before you came..."  
"True," Lorelai laughed. "I'll be there... whenever."  
Michel cleared his throat. "Sookie, the clientele seems to actually miss your fattening menu. I told one group of people to eat salads and I gave them a lecture about carbohydrates but then they left."   
"OOo was that the group called you 'strange Frenchman' and threw a crossiant at you?" Lorelai said excitedly.  
Michel nodded. "Strange group of people. So, people want to know when you're coming back."  
"Oh, really?" Sookie clapped her hands. "They like me, they really like me!"  
Michel made a face. "I live in a strange, strange world."   
Lorelai laughed at him. "Yes, 'strange Frenchman'."   
"Well..," Sookie said thoughtfully. "I'm really not busy today. And I'd love to cook... I mean, that's all I do at home anyways. I just cook things.. but no one eats them. Like this morning I made braised pork with portebella mushrooms and candied onions with a side of asparagus and avocado salad..."  
"Sounds fattening. People will like it," Michel commented.   
"Sookie, you don't have to do this," Lorelai interrupted.  
"I love to cook! Plus, I've been off for 5 weeks now. I'm bored of staying at home. Jackson and Kiki won't mind," Sookie replied. "I really want to come back."  
Lorelai sighed. "If you're sure."  
"Yes, yes! I'm sure," Sookie insisted.   
Lorelai nodded. "The kitchen's all yours." Sookie squealed and ran over the kitchen. "My toaster! Ooo and my ice cream maker! They're still here!"  
Michel and Lorelai looked at each other and rolled their eyes.   
"Typical Sookie," Lorelai said, sighing. **************************** "So, what are you majoring in?" Rory asked as she took a bite of her hamburger.  
"Don't know yet," Tristan said as he chewed. He swallowed. "Maybe like economics or something."  
Paris sat quietly and picked at her food.   
"Paris, you okay?" Rory asked.   
"Yeah, I'm fine," Paris answered quietly. "I think I'm going to go back to the room. I'll see you there, Ror." She tossed a ten dollar bill on the table and left.   
"Paris...," Rory trailed off as her friend exited the restuarant.   
"Is she okay?" Tristan asked. He took a french fry from Rory's plate and looked thoughtful. "She's awfully quiet. Considering that she's Paris."  
"I.. think so. Maybe I should go after her," Rory looked towards the door.   
"She'll be okay. Finish lunch with me," Tristan said. He took a big bite of his sandwich. "You still with that Dean-guy?"   
"Huh?" Rory looked at him. "Dean?" She hadn't thought about Dean in a long time. Not since they broke up last year. Last she heard, he'd gone to the University of Hartford. "We broke up a while ago," She said and picked up her hamburger again.  
"I see," Tristan answered. "So you're not going out with anyone?"  
Rory sighed. "Tristan.. you're a nice guy. But I don't think we're... compatible."  
Tristan stopped chewing and put his sandwich down. "We're not computer parts. I was just asking, Mary."   
"Stop calling me that. I'm Rory. I.. am.. Rory. I'm sorry I have to cut this short, but I have to go see Paris," Rory said. She stood up and put a ten dollar bill next to her plate. "I'll see you around."  
Chewing slowly, Tristan watched her leave. **************************** "Paris!" Rory yelled. She hurriedly unlocked the door and burst into their room. Paris was sitting on her bed, reading.   
"Paris," Rory said. Paris looked up at Rory and smiled.   
"Hi."   
"Are you okay?" Rory asked. She sat next to Paris on the bed. "You looked really upset."  
"It's nothing, I just didn't want to sit there anymore," Paris shrugged. "You know I'm impatient."  
Rory shook her head. "I think it was more than that."  
"Nope, it wasn't. It was impatience, and only impatience," Paris looked back at her book. "I have to read this."   
"Paris...," Rory started.   
"Hey, I'll be honest with you," Paris said as she put her book down. "Tristan was there to see you, not me. I felt awkward sitting there; I felt like I was the chaperone."   
"Paris...," Rory started again.  
"Stop calling my name! I feel like a travel agent." Paris waved her hands around dramatically. "No, he likes you. Not me. No matter what I do, he'll never like me. He likes YOU," Paris interrupted.   
"But I don't like him!" Rory yelled.   
"Maybe you should!" Paris yelled back. "He's a great guy!"  
"I'm sure he is. But I don't like him," Rory said. Sighing, she got up from Paris's bed and went over to her own. She peeled back the covers on her bed. "Wake me up in an hour?" she questioned her friend.  
"Sure," Paris answered as she picked up her book again. "Maybe then you'll realize how much Tristan likes you." Rory sighed and fell back on her bed. ********************************* "Hey, Luke-meister, can we get some coffee here?" Lorelai yelled as she entered the diner with Sookie. Sookie was carrying Kiki in her arms.  
"Look at those little bitty witty fingers," Sookie murmured.  
"Coffee, Louis?" Luke came over to their table and poured Lorelai a cup.   
"Yummy!" Lorelai said delightedly. She clapped her hands. "If you give me two mugs, I'll put a ball on my nose and twirl in circles for you."  
Luke gave her a strange look and turned to Sookie. "What can I get for you?" Luke asked Sookie.   
"A Coke would be nice," Sookie smiled. Lorelai opened her arms for Kiki. Luke walked back to their table with a Coke.   
"You like my baby, Lukey?" Lorelai asked.   
"What?" Luke looked surprised.   
"Yup, last night, I got bored...," Lorelai started.   
"Oh, please," Luke rolled his eys. Lorelai kissed the baby on the forehead.   
"Remember that time when all those women came in with their babies and started breast-feeding them?" Lorelai started to crack up. "That was hilarious. It was like breast-feeding convention."  
"They have those?" Sookie asked.   
"I think I'm going to feed my baby now," Lorelai announced dramatically. She pretended to take off her cardigan. Luke looked at her open-eyed. "Just kidding, buster. Got you excited, huh?" Lorelai said. Her eyes lit up and she opened her mouth to say..   
"Dirty," Luke beat her to it. He walked back to the counter. ********************************* "Lorelai, Luke knows like everything about you!" Sookie said as they walked down the street to her house.   
"Luke?" Lorelai asked. She was pushing Kiki's stroller. Accidently, she swerved off the sidewalk and into a bush. "Oops! Sorry, Kiki." She backed up and brought it back to the sidewalk.   
"Poor Rory, no wonder she has bush-a-phobia," Sookie commented.  
Lorelai ignored her comment. "We've known each for a long time. Plus, I go there everyday. He makes the best coffee ever."   
"I think he likes you," Sookie remarked thoughtfully.  
"Yes, well, I'm a paying customer," Lorelai replied.  
"Honey, he's not Taylor."   
"Thank God. Taylor would never let me drink 9 cups of coffee. And everyone keeps pressuring me to go out with Luke. Imagine if everyone started hinting that I go out with Taylor? I'd have to wear cardigans for the rest of my adult life! And my children would wear cardigans. And their children.. and their children...," Lorelai said.   
"No human should be allowed to drink that much coffee in a day," Sookie said.   
"In a sitting... so what if he knows everything? Kinda freaky, isn't it? He doesn't know everything, per say," Lorelai replied.   
"He brought you coffee before you asked, he said dirty before you said it, and he called you Louis!" Sookie counted off. "That's pretty much everything in your life."   
"True," Lorelai nodded. "But he doesn't know about my manical obsession with the Brady Bunch, how Bongo the Bear died... and how does BBMak stay together? What do they eat? Have they even had a hit single in the past 3 years?"   
"Lorelai, you're changing the subject," Sookie said sternly.   
"You're starting to sound like my mother," Lorelai said.   
"Oh, I like your mother.. kind of," Sookie looked confused. "Except for that time.."  
"She tried to take over your wedding?" Lorelai finished. "Look, if you're going to tell me to go out with Luke or something, the answer's no. Besides you, he's one of my best friends. I don't want to ruin that." 'Unless I already have...,'  
Lorelai thought back to the kiss. 


	5. Tristan and Paris, Dinner with Preston

Sorry guys, I'm having a serious problem with the formats! Sorry.. Trying to figure it out.. And thanks for your feedback!! =)   
************************  
"Oh good, you're not late, Lorelai."  
Lorelai rolled her eyes at her mother's back.   
"Stop making faces, Lorelai."  
Lorelai was taken aback.  
"We just passed a mirror," Emily said.  
"There's something stuck in my teeth,"  
"Could it be your foot?" Emily asked curtly. "Preston is in there with your father. Be nice. He's a nice young man."  
"Right, right, I'll try to refrain from chewing on any body parts. Mine or his," Lorelai said.  
"That's disgusting. Now go make small talk while I make sure dinner is ready," Emily said and left her standing in front of the living room door.  
Lorelai sighed and pushed open the heavy wood door. "Hey, Dad," Lorelai said. The man sitting next to her father stood up and held out a hand to her.  
"Preston Bauer," He said and smiled. "You must be, Lorelai. Your father brags about you often."  
"You must be a gift from God," Lorelai answered, wide-eyed. Preston Bauer was like Brad Pitt + George Clooney meets that really hot guy from Alias. 'So that's what would happen if those three had a child.' She made a face. 'Yuck, that's just.. dirty!'  
Preston looked her quizzically. "Excuse me?"  
"Oh, sorry. I just said, I just got a lift from..... Dod. He gave me a ride," Lorelai said and smiled brightly at him. "So, what do you do?" ************************ "Well, how's your business going, Preston?" Emily asked as she cut up her filet mignon.  
"Very well," Preston said. He ate some potato.  
"Mmm, good potato," Lorelai commented.   
Preston smiled. "Very delicious. In fact, it tastes almost like the way my wife makes." He turned to a shocked Emily. "Have you met Clarice?"  
Emily quickly gathered her composure. "No, I haven't. But I've heard she's lovely." Emily cleared her throat and gave Lorelia, who was trying hard not to laugh, a hard look. "Richard, can you pass the wine?" ************************ "Earth to Rory?" Linda waved a hand in Rory's face. "What are you thinking so hard about anyways?" The three had decided to get some pizza after their study session.  
"Huh?" Rory shook her head and looked at her friend. "Nothing much."   
Linda had a sly smile on her face. "I'm guessing it has to do with guys."   
"No!" Rory yelped. She blushed. "I mean, no. It doesn't."   
Linda smiled broadly. "Oh, come on, Rory, tell me! I'll be your Dear Abby."  
"Isn't she dead?" Rory asked.   
"No.. I think," Linda looked thoughtful. "Anyways, before annoying Greg comes back. Ugh, I hate him. Yuck, yuck, yuck." She made a face. "So, tell me!"  
Rory sighed. "It's nothing really. One of my old high school friends, I saw him today. I didn't even know he came here."  
"Oooo," Linda said, leaning forward.   
"And Paris always liked him but he always seemed to be following me around. And then we had a fight about that. And then everything was okay between us. Then suddenly, he shows up at our dorm room and he wants to take a walk with Paris. It's not that I'm not happy for her... I don't know. I don't even like him. I don't know why it's bothering me." Rory bit her lip.  
"Hm...," Linda said. "Sounds like you have a case of jealousy."  
"I don't though! Paris has liked him for a long time..," Rory replied. She pretended to pick lint off her sweater.   
"Hey, isn't that Paris?" Linda pointed to a couple who had just walked into the pizza parlor.   
Rory looked up to see Tristan and Paris enter the parlor. They were laughing and smiling.  
"Wow, is that the guy?" Linda asked. "He's totally hot. Paris has good taste. I'm surprised."  
"Yeah, well, he's kind of a jerk," Rory muttered.  
"But he's totally hot!" Linda answered.   
"But not always...," Rory replied.   
"Not always hot?" Linda asked quizzically.  
"No, not always a jerk. Oh, I don't know!" Rory threw her hands in the air.  
"Pizza's here!" Greg said as he set the pizza pie down on the table. "I know you ladies are jumping with joy that Greg's back."  
"Wahoo," Linda said sarcastically as she reached for a piece. "Mmmm.. this pizza rocks. Rory, you're not eating?"   
Rory wasn't listening. She was staring at Tristan and Paris. *********************** "God, Sookie, you had to be there! You had to see my mother's face when Preston mentioned his wife. Tee hee hee!" Lorelai laughed loudly into the phone. "Wow, that was the happiest moment of my life. Suddenly, I felt so much perkier and happier. The world was at my fingertips. I was practically dancing in the gravy! In fact, I'm dancing right now!"  
"Aww, Lorelai, don't revel in your mother's pain," Sookie said. "What a terrible, terrible thing to say.. and a waste of gravy. MMm.. maybe I'll make gravy tonight."  
"Sookie," Lorelai stopped dancing.  
"Kidding, hon," Sookie laughed. "So, how's Rory doing?"  
Lorelai frowned. "My gosh. Speaking of Rory, I haven't talked to her in like 4 days. No calls or anything!"  
"Wow," Sookie said. "I'm surprised."  
"My baby's all grown up...," Lorelai sniffled.   
"She's probably just busy with her homework," Sookie comforted.  
"Homework!? Even when she was going to Chilton she had time to hang out with her mom!" Lorelai cried.   
"Honey, you forced her to sit through those Mary Kate and Ashley marathons," Sookie answered.  
"But they're my role models!!!" Lorelai cried.   
"Okay, hon.. Sadly enough, I believe you. Well, Kiki's crying for her mommy. I'll call you later, k?" Sookie said. "Bye, Sookie," Lorelai quipped. She hung up the phone and went to the kitchen to find some food. As usual, there was nothing in the cupboards. 'Time to hit Doose's,' she thought. She grabbed her coat and her wallet. *********************** The bell jingled as Lorelai walked into the nearly empty store. She went straight for the chips aisle. "Hm... barbecue or salt and vinegar?" She said to herself.   
"I'd recommend salt and vinegar."  
She turned around and came face to face with Dean. "Dean! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be off at college doing something inappropriate and slightly illegal?" She smiled at him.  
"You mean, studying?" Dean smiled back. "I'm home for the weekend."  
"Ahh, I see," She nodded and grabbed both bags of chips.   
"Just picking up some milk for my mom," He said. "So... uh.. how's Rory?"  
"Good, good. She likes school," Lorelai said, nodding again. "Well, I'll see you around then. Don't be a stranger cause you two aren't lovey dovey anymore." She smiled at him. "I'll talk to you later."  
He waved good bye and walked toward the dairy section.  
Lorelai picked up some M&Ms, Skittles, marshmallows, and Frosted Flakes and paid for her groceries.   
As she was leaving the market, she had a sudden urge for coffee. "It's not unusual," She sang as she walked over to Luke's. But just as she was about to enter, she noticed that Luke was laughing. With another woman. She took a step back from the door. Why did she feel jealous? 'I'm not jealous,' she thought. But she was. She could practically feel her face turning green like the Jolly Green Giant's.   
Luke hadn't noticed her yet, so she stepped farther away from the door. Adjusting the bags in her arms, she walked home. 


	6. Square Underpants, Running Naked, Paris ...

"Lorelai here. I'm probably watching Spongebob Square Pants, so I advise you to do the same. Leave a message!"  
"Hey, Mom! It's Rory! Sorry I haven't called in a while. Things have been pretty busy here. I'll call back later, k? Bye!" Lorelai rolled over in her bed. "MMRrrmmphh...," She said. Rolling out of bed, she stumbled downstairs to the answering machine. Rubbing her eyes, she rewinded the message and jolted awake when she heard Rory's voice.  
Giggling, she grabbed the phone and dialed Rory's dorm room. "HEllo? Is this my present to the world, Rory?" She called into the phone.  
"No, this is the girl who would like to sleep, Paris," Paris mumbled.  
"Ooo, sorry, Paris. Is my wonderful daughter around?" Lorelai asked.  
"I think she went to the library," Paris mumbled.   
"Late night, huh? I never imagined you as the partying type," Lorelai jabbered.  
"I was reading," Paris yawned and sat up. She realized that she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep with Lorelai on the phone.  
"So, what did you guys do last night? Hook up with guys? Get matching tattoos? Drink beer and get buzzed?? Run naked through the Harvard Green?" Lorelai asked excitedly.  
"Read a book and went to sleep?" Paris asked.  
"Okay, that was next on my list for you two. Do you know when Rory's going to come back?" Lorelai twirled a piece of hair around her finger.  
"Probably for lunch or something," Paris rubbed her eyes and got up out of bed.  
"Well, okay, thanks, Paris. Can you tell her I called? I can't seem to catch her," Lorelai said.  
"Yeah, I'll tell her," Paris said. "Bye, Lorelai!"  
"Bye!" Lorelai hung up and went back upstairs to change. ********************* "Good morning, bud," Lorelai said to Luke in her Louis voice.  
Luke nodded and poured her a cup of coffee. "Do you have any other voices?" Luke asked, sighing.  
"Yes, I do, but this one seems to annoy you the most," Lorelai-Louis said.  
Luke rolled his eyes and took out his pad and pencil. "What is it for you today? Dead cow or dead cow?"  
"Hm.. maybe I'll try something new today. Give me a menu, and make it fast," Lorelai said.  
"Seriously?" Luke raised an eyebrow.  
"No, I'll take a dead cow please," Lorelai smiled sweetly. "Lots of cheese."  
Luke rolled his eyes but went to make the burger.  
"OOo, Luke I just remembered," Lorelai called to him. "Can you do me a favor?"  
"Okay...," He stuck his head out from the kitchen.  
"Can you run around naked in front of Miss Patty's studio singing Frank Sinatra in your best Elmo voice?" Lorelai asked as cutely as possible.  
'God, if you said everything like that, I'd be the embarrassment of the town,' Luke thought. "Uh..," He said.  
"Pretty please? You know already said Okay. An okay is an okay is an okay!" She said. "Yay!" She smiled sweetly at him. "Actually, could you come by the inn later and look at the jammed gutters? I'd call the jammed-gutter-man but he's out of town.. And I have a wedding planned for Friday night."  
"Yeah sure," Luke nodded and went back into the kitchen.  
He walked back to the table and sat down. Lorelai was surprised. "So...," Luke said. "Rory call you yet?"  
"Yeah, but I was sleeping," Lorelai said and took a sip of her coffee.  
"Good to know she's still alive, huh?" Luke asked.  
"Yeah, whew!" Lorelai nodded vigorously.  
"Jess hasn't called yet. But I'm not surprised," Luke shrugged.  
"Hehe, Jess. I'm sure he's doing well," Lorelai said.  
"True, the kid does take care of himself," Luke said. "I still worry though."  
"Awww, Lukey!!!" Lorelai smiled at him. "All worked about your widdle bitty nephew!! Jessy WEssy!!"  
Luke looked at her with a disgusted look on his face. "Please stop that."  
"IT'S OKAY LUKEY WOOKEY!!" Lorelai called at him as he went back to the counter.  
"I don't know you," Luke called back. 'Who was that woman?' Lorelai wanted to ask. 'And why do I want to know?' ********************* Rory left the classroom and strolled across the Green. "Rory!" Rory turned around at the sound of her name. Paris was running towards her. "Hey," Rory said. Paris huffed and puffed and stopped to sit on a bench.  
"Your.. Mom... called... Naked.. Tattoo.... library...," Paris huffed.  
"What? My mom called naked?" Rory made a face. "That's disgusting!"  
"NO! No, she called and asked if we ran around the Green naked last night?" Paris managed to get out.  
"Ooo did you tell her we did that last week?" Rory asked as she patted her friend on the shoulder.  
"Yes, several times," Paris said. "Woof. I need to excercise."  
"So, Paris," Rory smiled slyly. "Tell me about last night with Tristan!"  
Paris broke into a huge smile. "It was wonderful. We sat around Harvard Green for a little while and talked. Then we went to eat pizza. Then he walked me back to the dorms." She was beaming.  
"Wow, Paris beaming. That's a new one," Rory said. As happy as she was for her friend, she couldn't help but a feel a tinge of jealousy. "Well, I should probably go call my mom before she calls the bomb squad or something."  
Paris nodded. "Yeah, I think she's kinda worried." ********************** "Mom?" Rory leaned against her desk and twirled the phone wire around her finger. "RORY!! Where have you been?" Lorelai yelled. Michel frowned at her. "Honey! I haven't talked to you in ages. WE've never been separated for so long."  
"I'm sorry. I've been caught up in stuff, you know," Rory said.  
"Ooo, Harvard stuff," Lorelai said.   
"So, what's up in Star's Hollow?" Rory asked.  
"Well, I learned a new song," Lorelai said thoughtfully.  
"Really...? What?" Rory felt hesitant.  
"This is the song that never ends! It just goes on and on my friends! Some people...," Lorelai sang. Michel glared at her. "What are you singing?" he asked. "It's a song," Lorelai said, covering the mouth piece. "And a very good one. It rhymes."  
"Insightful," Michel commented. "Please do not sing. Some people have ears." Lorelai stuck her tongue out at him.  
"Mom?" Rory asked. "You still there?"  
"Yup! Sorry, Michel just interrupted me," Lorelai quipped.  
"Oh okay, I thought you died from the excitement of sharing your new song with me or something."  
"So tell me about Harvard!" Lorelai said. Michel looked at her. "This is going to be long, yes?" Lorelai nodded a 'yes'.  
"Okay, then I go to lunch now. I don't need to hear that song again," MIchel smirked. ********************** "And then SpongeBob's like 'No, you can't do that!'" Lorelai said. Michel walked into the lobby. "You still on the phone?" He asked. Lorelai nodded.  
"Then, I'll go for a walk," Michel said and promptly left.  
"Yeah, and then Spongebob's like 'No, you can't!' And I was like 'Yes, I can!' but he was trying to resist my charms!" Lorelai laughed.  
"Great story, Mom," Rory groaned. "Is there an ending to this story?"  
"Yup! Spongebob was like 'Okay, fine!' And I got to try on his square pants!" Lorelai said.  
"And now it's the end?" Rory asked.  
"Yes," Lorelai said. "He has square underpants too. I saw them. You have to go now?" She asked quietly.  
"Yeah, I have to go to class. I feel very energetic after that story though," Rory said. "I miss you." "Ditto," Lorelai said sighing. "Four years is a long time."  
"It'll be over in a flash," Rory said. "Love you, gotta go."  
"Bye, Mary Kate," Lorelai said.  
"Bye, Ashley," Rory said and hung up the phone.  
"Ashley?" Tristan was standing right behind her.  
"Whoa whoa! How'd you get in here?" Rory gaped at him. Tristan shrugged. "Door was open."  
"Doesn't mean you just walk in!" Rory yelled.  
"Sorry, sorry," Tristan mumbled. "Where's Paris?"  
"In France," Rory answered and sat down in her seat.  
"Funny... Where's Paris?" Tristan asked.  
"Geez.. in France!" Rory said in an exaggerated voice.   
"Okay, not funny anymore," Tristan frowned. "Why do you hate me, Mary?"  
"Because you call me Mary," Rory sighed and opened a book. Tristan sat down on her bed. "And because you just messed up my sheets."  
"Sorry, sorry," Tristan said and got up.  
"I don't hate you," Rory said.  
"Well, you definitely don't like me," Tristan mumbled and sat back down.  
"Things.. are just awkward between us. I mean, after.. you know," Rory trailed off.  
"Rory, that was high school. We were stupid," Tristan frowned.  
"Right, that was stupid," Rory said and started to read. "She's at the library." Tristan nodded a thanks and left. Rory got up and looked out the window. 'Why the sudden change, Tristan?' She thought as she watched him cross the Green. *************************** "Lorelai," Michel said. "There is something here for you." He handed her a single rose and a card.  
"AWww, Michel! You shouldn't have!" Lorelai said and tried to hug him. Michel made a face and shrugged her off. "Please, you disgust me," He said.  
"Okay, sorry, sorry," Lorelai said. "I love to make fun of you."  
"Yes, well, keep that love to yourself," Michel smirked. "I'm going for a walk." He left the lobby.  
Lorelai looked at the cover of the card curiously. 'Who would send me a rose?' She thought. She opened the card. There was a single line. "You are beautiful," She read out loud.  
"Thank you."  
Startled, Lorelai looked up to see Luke. "Hi," he began.  
"Hi," Lorelai said. "What are you doing here?"  
"Looking beautiful," Luke answered. "The gutters, remember?" 'You look beautiful.'  
"Right," Lorelai answered. 'Who sent me this?'  
"Nice rose," Luke commented.  
"Nice butt," Lorelai said.  
"What?" Luke asked.  
"Dirty! Hehehe," Lorelai smiled flirtatiously. "I'll show you the gutters." 


	7. Gilmore Kisses

YAy! I finally figured out how to do the formatting all neat, so hopefully, you guys like it better now! ~ Review! Review!  
************************* Rory sat reading a book for class when Paris burst through the door.  
"I need an outfit! What should I do with my hair??!!" Paris said. She flopped down on her bed, panting. "And I really, really need to work out."  
"Calm down," Rory said and got up from her desk. "Why do you need an outfit? Mosh! Mosh!"  
Paris made a face. "You are your mother's daughter."  
Rory grinned. "Thanks."  
"Tristan is taking me out to Bricco," Paris said.  
"OOo, I see."  
Paris jumped up from her bed and went to the closet. "So, what are you up to tonight?"  
Rory shrugged. "I think I'll catch up on my reading or something. Maybe hang out with Jen and Brian."  
"Sounds good," Paris said nodding. She held up a dress. "How's this?"  
"Perfect, and you should let your hair down," Rory nodded.  
Paris squealed. "I can't believe I'm going out with Tristan! And he seems genuinely interested in me, you know?"  
She furrowed her brow. "Wait.. a minute. You didn't set him up for this, did you? Not like in high school?"  
Rory shook her violently. "No, no, no. Tristan did this on his own."  
Paris gave a breath of relief. "Good." She pulled on the dress and let her hair down. "He's waiting outside so I better do this quick." She turned to Rory. "How's my hair?"  
"Nice," Rory answered.  
"Toss me that lip gloss?" Rory went over to Paris' dresser and picked up the strawberry lip gloss. "Here."  
"Thanks!" Paris caught the lip gloss mid-air, grabbed her coat, and was out the door before Rory could even utter a 'bye'. "Have fun," Rory said to no one in particular. ************************** "Thanks so much for helping me last minute," Lorelai said gratefully. Luke grunted what sounded like a 'no prob' and gathered his tools. "You want to come down to the diner for coffee?" He looked up into her eyes.  
"Yeah, sure," Lorelai smiled at him. "I'd love some coffee," She started in her Louis voice.  
"Oh God," Luke said and rolled his eyes. "Let's go." ************************** Rory rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock. It was almost eleven and she had been reading for four hours. Paris wasn't back yet. Getting up from the chair, she turned off her desk lamp and went to the closet to find her coat. She grabbed her keys and locked the door as she left.  
The Green was pretty much empty at that time of night. She passed a guy reading a book on a bench. "Brian?" She asked. Brian looked up and smiled.  
"Hey, Ror," He said. "What are you doing out here?"  
"What are _you_ doing out here? Reading?" She sat down next to him.  
"Yeah, the dorm is loud. My roommates are playing like basketball or something," He turned the page.  
"Basketball?" She made a face. "You can play that inside?"  
"Well, according to them, you can play anywhere." Brian shrugged and then put his book down next to him. "Haven't seen you around in a while. How's life going?"  
ROry shrugged. "Pretty good. Lots of reading to do." She squinted. "Isn't it kinda dark out here to read?"  
"Nah, the streetlight is pretty good actually," Brian smiled. Rory smiled and looked past him to see a couple walking across the Green. 'Paris,' she thought as the two walked by laughing.  
"Wasn't that Paris?" Brian asked quizzically.  
"Yeah," Rory watched the two enter their dorm.  
"She didn't even say hello," Brian said.  
Rory plaintively smiled. "It's okay, she's just caught up with her.... friend."  
"Well, I've gotta get back to reading," Brian said. "But you're welcome to sit with me."  
Rory smiled again. "Nah, I think I'll go back to the dorm. I just needed a breath of fresh air." Nodding, Brian picked up his book and waved bye to her.  
Just as Rory was entering the dorm, Tristan came out. "Hey," he said.  
"Hey," Rory replied. "You guys have fun?"  
"Yup," Tristan replied and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Good food. SOo.... I'll see you around." He turned to leave.  
"Tristan," Rory called after him. "I ..."  
"You...?" Tristan looked into her eyes.  
Rory blushed and broke the gaze. "I was just wondering.. it's not really my business but.. do you, you know, really like Paris.. I mean, she's my friend, and I'm worried that you might be playing with her."  
Tristan looked a little taken back. His face tightened, but then he relaxed. "Heh, I guess after my history at Chilton, I would expect that," He finally said. "No, I'm being honest with her. I like Paris. And I think she likes me back."  
"You think.. she's like in love with you," Rory said softly.  
"Whoa, not ready for love yet," Tristan joked.  
"But.. why the sudden change?" Rory gave him a puzzled look. "One day you're asking me if I have a boyfriend, and the next, you're following Paris around like a puppy dog."  
Tristan sighed. "In military school, I did a lot of thinking.... I went out with a lot of girls in high school.. and I realized that I want a stable relationship. I want someone to talk to, I want someone to lean on, and I want someone to lean on me. I like you, Rory. No, I've always liked you. A lot. But I don't think you're ready for me." He gave her a sad smile and started to leave.  
Rory grabbed his arm and turned him back around. Tristan looked at her, wide-eyed. Then she kissed him. *************************** 'Traitor!' She thought to herself as she went up the stairs to her room. 'Tristan is going out with Paris... don't ruin this for her.' As she reached the top of the stairs, she saw Paris standing there.  
"Oh no," Rory said.  
Paris had tears in her eyes, but she didn't say anything to Rory.  
"Paris.. I...," Rory started but her friend pushed past her and down the stairs. "Paris!" *************************** "Another cup of joe, please," Lorelai said to Luke as he washed down the counter.  
"No more," He frowned.  
"Pleeassssssssseeeeeee," Lorelai begged. "PLeeeeeeeeeeassssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee."  
He sighed. "How long are you keep asking?"  
"A very long time," Lorelai replied smiling. "I could even make it in a song."  
"Great," Luke rolled his eyes and grabbed the coffee cup. "I'm only giving you half a cup though."  
"Fine, fine, if you must, Dr. Luke," Lorelai grumbled. "Hey," she said in a soft voice.  
"Hey," He replied.  
"Can I be serious with you?" Lorelai asked.  
"No, I will not run around naked or cluck like a chicken in front of Taylor," Luke frowned.  
"No, I asked you that yesterday. Today," She said dramatically. "I have a different question."  
"Okay," Luke put the rag down and leaned on the counter next to her.  
"You know.. that night... that we .. uh... you know," Lorelai started.  
"Okay..," Luke said. She looked so cute when she was nervous. "What about it?" He tried to be nonchalant, but he felt nervous too.  
'Luke seems very nonchalant about this,' Lorelai thought nervously. "Never mind," Lorelai said.  
"What?" Luke asked.  
"Uh.. can I have pie?" Lorelai asked.  
"What?" Luke asked again.  
"Pie? You know that stuff you make and it has that yummy creamy filling?" Lorelai said, feigning excitement.  
"No, what were you gonna say?" Luke said.  
"Okay," Lorelai shuffled her feet. "Uh.. I think maybe, that.. you know..."  
"Kiss?" Luke said. Lorelai's face turned red.  
"Right, kiss.. maybe it was something more than..," Lorelai started.  
"More than...?" Luke leaned across the counter towards her. 'Tell her how you feel!' His mind was screaming. Luke put a hand on her cheek and kissed her softly. "More than this?" He said as he pulled back. *************************** HAha! Got you hanging, huh? Review, review.. am currently working on chapter 8, don't worry, it'll be up soon! 


	8. Emily says the word sorry

OOoo I'm excited about how well the fomat looks. OO btw, if you have any comments about the formatting, I find it mucho helpful. It's pretty right? hehe review review! Oh, btw, the characters are (obviously) not mine, but the storyline is! Wheeee ************************** Lorelai opened her eyes and reached for the alarm clock. Instead, her hand grabbed the rose. It was dried up and it crumbled in her hand. "Oh, oops," She said. She had almost forgotten about the rose. She touched her lips and smiled brightly and threw back the sheets. "Lukey, Luke, Luke. HE kissed me! LAlalala," Lorelai sang as she went downstairs. ************************** Rory opened her eyes. She was still sitting at her desk and a little pool of drool had formed next to her book. "Ew," She said. After a flurry of phone calls last night, she had finally found Paris at Jen's. Paris had refused to talk to her. Rory eventually gave up calling and tried to concentrate on studying for her journalism class. It hadn't worked. All she could think about was the look of pain on Paris's face and how she had betrayed her friend.  
Sighing, Rory got up and stretched. She felt her stomach growling from the absence of food. In fact, she hadn't even eaten dinner last night. After all the events of last night, she had forgotten to eat. She grabbed her jacket and headed for the dining halls.  
Walking across the Green, Rory contemplated going over to Jen's to see Paris. 'She's probably still angry,' Rory sighed. 'Maybe I should let her cool down.' Rory shoved her hands in her pockets. "You know, that's usually my thing. Shoving hands in pockets?" Startled, Rory turned around.  
"Jess?" ************************** "Hey," Lorelai said as she entered the diner.  
"Hey," Luke said and walked over to pour her a cup of coffee.  
"No lectures today," She asked. "No eye rolling?" She took a sip.  
Luke gave her a slight smile. Then he rolled his eyes.  
"HA! I knew you wanted to do that," Lorelai mocked his eye rolling.  
Luke put the pot down and fidgeted with his hands. "About last night......," He started.  
"Do you...," Lorelai said at the same time.  
Luke stopped. "Go ahead," He said.  
"No, you first," Lorelai said.  
"Uh.. last night was nice," Luke finally said.  
"Yeah," Lorelai agreed.  
"Maybe... we could have dinner sometime?" Luke asked hesitantly.  
"I'd love that," Lorelai said softly. "Now more coffee," She changed to her Louis voice.  
Smiling, Luke poured her more coffee and then walked away. ************************** "What are you doing here?" Rory asked. 'Wow, how many times have I asked that in the last few days?'  
"I dunno, actually," Jess scratched his head. "I was gonna go home for the weekend and I.. uh.. dunno why I showed up here. I guess it's a good thing I met you, 'cause, I don't know anyone here."  
Rory smiled. "You came to see me!" She hugged him. Jess smiled and returned the hug. From the other side of the Green, Tristan shook his head as he watched the two embrace. "You were dreaming, Dugrey. Rory doesn't like you," He said out loud. He shook his head and walked away. ************************** "Hey, Michel," Lorelai sang.  
Michel gave her a look. "Hello."  
"Already, you hate me. And it's only..," Lorelai looked at her watch. "Nine am."  
"I don't hate you. I just despise you," Michel answered.  
"Sounds like you need a song," Lorelai said. Michel covered his ears.  
"Tie a yellow ribbon around the old oak tree.. if you still love me!!!!!" Lorelai sang.  
"I'm going to tie a yellow ribbon around my neck. Your voice is killing me," Michel said. He started to walk towards the kitchen.   
"You fill me up, Buttercup." Lorelai called after him.  
"Lorelai."  
Lorelai turned around. It was Emily. "Uh.. Hi, Mom."  
"Lorelai, you don't sing like that in your workplace. It's inappropriate," Emily said, frowning.  
"Yes, well, my presence alone in the workplace is inappropriate to you," Lorelai mumbled.  
"What? Don't mumble Lorelai," Emily said.  
"Mom, did you come here to say something? The DAR meeting isn't weeks from now," Lorelai sighed.  
"You're my daughter. I have to have a meeting to see you?" Emily replied.  
"No, it's just that I'm busy," Lorelai pretended to shuffle through the mail. "Bills, bills, bills." She perked up. "Ooo Destiny's Child!"  
Emily gave her a strange look. "I came here to talk about Preston," Emily said.  
"And his wife? How is his wife? Clarice, was it?" Lorelai raised an eyebrow.  
Emily sighed. "That's what I wanted to talk about. Your father says that I should come here.. and.. how can I put this?"  
"Apologize? Get on your knees and beg me for mercy? Send me roses that say 'you are beautiful'?" Lorelai hinted.  
Emily looked confused. "Roses?"  
"Nothing, nothing, it's okay, Mom," Lorelai heard herself saying. 'What am I, on drugs?'  
"Yes, so I wanted to say 'I'm sorry' about the whole incident," Emily finally said.  
"Thanks for apologizing," Lorelai said smiling.  
Emily huffed and walked away. "Bye, Lorelai," she said.   
"Bye." ***************************** "So... I'll see you around then," ROry said. She and Jess were standing at the bus station. THe bus pulled up next to them.  
"Yeah," Jess said and shouldered his duffel. "Gotta go and show Luke that I'm still breathing. I haven't called him yet."  
"Tsk, tsk," ROry said smiling. "Bye, Jess! It was good to see you!" She waved and started to walk away.  
"Hey, Rory!"  
Rory turned around. "Why don't you come home with me?" Jess asked, cocking his head. "I'm sure Lorelai misses you."  
Rory thought about it. "I have a lot of work to do," She finally said.  
"Oh, blow it off for a weekend. Come see your mom," He said.  
Rory did miss Lorelai. They had only spoken once in a week. She suddenly smiled. "Okay!"  
She put her hand in Jess's out-stretched one. ***************************** Dean got off the bus and was surprised to see Jess and Rory getting on another bus. Holding hands.  
"Damnit," He said and grimaced. "You're an idiot, Dean."  
'She's not going to come back to you,' he thought. 'Stop dreaming." 


	9. Flickiness, flakiness, and cardigans

"So, how's life going?" Jess asked. "Good, you?" Rory asked. They were on their way to Star's Hollow. "School's alright," Jess said. "Sometimes I show up to class." He winked. "Haha," Rory said. She smacked him playfully. "Always the rebel." "I'm not rebellious, just bored," Jess rolled his eyes. "Hey..," Rory started. Jess looked at her. "Yeah?" "I'm glad we're still friends..," She smiled at him. "Even though we broke up." Jess shrugged. "It only makes sense. I mean, we're so far away from each other. It just wouldn't work out." "You're back with Shane aren't you!?" Rory said jokingly. Jess laughed out loud. "Are you kidding?" Jess rolled his eyes. "Never again." Rory fidgeted with her hands. "Especially, because after Dean and I broke up, we never even looked at each other. It's kinda sad actually." "It's probably 'cause the reason you broke up was me. You guys didn't exactly break up on friendly terms," Jess said. "True, but it's still kinda sad." Rory sighed. "Well..," Jess started to say. "HEY! We're here!" Rory said excitedly. "God, you never realize how much you miss a place until you come back..." "Yeah," Jess said. 'Or when you see a person.' *************************** Lorelai wrapped her hands around the mug and sat staring at Luke talking to a customer. 'Do I want to start a relationship with Luke?' She thought. They'd been friends for long, she didn't know if she wanted to risk losing that. Plus the fact that she ate there everyday. 'Not only would I be sad, I'd starve to death.' Luke came back to the counter where she was sitting. "So," He said and swallowed hard. "Uh.. when do you wanna..." "MOM!!!!" Rory ran into the diner. Lorelai slowly turned around at the sound of her daughter's voice. "RORRRYYYYYYYYY!!!!" She jumped up and hugged and kissed her daughter. "What are you doing here?" Rory wrapped her arms around Lorelai and said, "To get a cup of coffee." "HA! Funny," Lorelai said. "You missed me.. hehe I knew you would. No one can resist my charms." She winked at Luke across Rory's head. Luke smiled at the two embracing and looked up to see Jess walk in. "Hey," Jess said nonchalantly and put his duffel bag on a chair. "Hey," Luke replied. "Good to see you." "Yeah," Jess said and turned his attention back to the Gilmore girls. "Should we be doing that too?" "Maybe later, after we hold hands and skip," Luke said. He smiled slightly. "Come here, Jess." The two guys hugged stiffly. "I actually kinda.. uhh..," Luke said. "Missed me?" Jess smirked. "Missed the free labor," Luke said and let his nephew go. "Go put your stuff upstairs." Jess shrugged and took his duffel upstairs. Lorelai and Rory were talking excitedly as they left the diner. "The video store or Doose's?" Rory asked. Luke smiled as he watched the girls leave. "Rory, I missed you!" He heard Lorelai say in her Louis voice. "Missed me, or missed going into Doose's without protection?" Rory asked. "Ooo, dirty!" ************************* "You drove here?" Rory eyed her mother. "Yeah, it's a far walk when you're alone. Besides, young beautiful, wonderful, smart, amazing...," Lorelai said. Rory rolled her eyes. ".. women should not walk around in the dark alone," Lorelai said. "So, why did you drive?" Rory asked, smirking. "Funny, Drew Carey," Lorelai said. "Don't be jealous of your mother's charms." Lorelai started to turn on the engine, but abruptly stopped. "Wait a second..." "What?" "Let me see you pout." Rory pouted."Cute smile!"  
Rory smiled. "Whew, still got the touch... Just checking," Lorelai smiled at her daughter and patted her daughter on the head. "Next time, Mommy's gonna teach you how to cross your legs like..." "MOM!" "Okay, sorry, sorry, keeping it PG here." Lorelai smiled and turned the engine on. "Where to?" "Grandma's?" Rory asked hopefully. "I see Harvard has given you a sense of humor," Lorelai said. "Video store?" "K," Rory replied. ************************** "Ugh, I can't believe they put S Club 7 behind the Rory Curtain!" Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Just because they don't wear cardigans, doesn't mean Taylor can discriminate!" "The only thing that's not behind the curtain is 'The Yearling'." Rory commented. "Yeah, and I don't see the Yearling wearing a cardigan," Lorelai replied. "I am outraged! I am going to protest with little picket signs! I am going to..." Taylor walked up to them. "Is there a problem here?" he asked. Lorelai smiled sweetly at him. "Nope, no problem. Nice cardigan." Taylor frowned and walked away. "Rory! ROry!" Lorelai whispered. "What?" Rory asked. "Help me take all these S club 7 videos from inside the curtain. Even little children should watch S Club 7. Very educational. I learned many a life's lesson from them," Lorelai whispered. "Moooom," Rory groaned. "Right now?" "Yes, now help me. Be a good daughter," Lorelai whispered. She handed Rory a stack of videos. Rolling her eyes, Rory plopped them on a shelf outside the curtain. "Is this good?" "Yeah," Lorelai replied. She casually placed a pile of videos on another shelf close by. "Let's go!" They ran out the video store. "Hey, we forgot to get our videos," Rory said. Lorelai shrugged. "Ehhh... let's go decorate flamingoes and put them on Taylor's lawn." "Huh," Rory said. "Flamingoes! With Rhinestones!" Lorelai said excitedly, jumping up and down. "Mom, too much time by yourself has degraded your thinking capacity to zero," Rory commented. "Rhinestones?" Lorelai asked. "Let's go act out The Wonder Years with Kirk!" Rory said, brightening. "Ugh, let's go get videos," Lorelai replied. "Flamingoes later." *************************** "'She's All That' Or 'Clueless'?" Lorelai picked up the two videos and looked from one to the other. "Mmm.. doesn't matter?" Rory put more popcorn in her mouth. "Hm.. lots of chick flickiness at the Gilmore house," Lorelai commented as she looked at the backs of the video covers. "Mom, you've seen these movies like forty times," Rory said. "Forty one. And I only watch to mock. I point and laugh..... hey.. flickiness sounds like a hair thing. Like yucky white thingies. You know, when you scratch your head.....," Lorelai said. "Ewww, that's gross," Rory made a face. "Flickiness. 'I can't go on a date with you Kirk, due to my flickiness.'" Lorelai said. "That's flakiness," Rory corrected. "They're teaching you too much at that school," Lorelai sighed and put a video into the VCR. *************************** "What now?" Rory asked as she popped the video out of the machine. "Whatever!" Lorelai mimicked Alicia Silverstone. She made a 'W' sign with her fingers. "Okay, no more 'Clueless' for you," Rory frowned. "Rory, dahhling, we haven't talked yet," Lorelai said in her Louis voice. "How's everything going at school? Meet any guys?" Lorelai smiled slyly. Tristan popped into Rory's head. "Uh... not much," Rory replied. "Well," Lorelai said. "Not much here either.." 'Except that Luke practically asked me out.' "Well," Rory said. "Well," Lorelai replied. "Okay, new word." "Okay, new word." "Not funny!" Rory yelled. **************************** Later that night, Rory was lying down on her bed when her cell phone rang. "Hello?" "Rory.. it's me.. Tristan." Rory let out a deep breath. "Hey.." "We need to talk..." "Yeah." "Can you come out to the coffee house on the corner?" "I'm in Star's Hollow right now..." "Oh." "I'll call you when I get back," Rory said. "Yeah, k. Bye." Rory let out the breath she was holding and turned off her phone. 'Did I come here to avoid Tristan this weekend?' She wasn't ready to think about how she felt about him. 'Do I want a relationship with him?' She thought back to what he had said. "I like you, Rory. No, I've always liked you. A lot. But I don't think you're ready for me." Rory lay back down on her bed. 'Now the question is, Tristan, do I like you?' 


	10. Goodbyes and hugs

"Hey," Jess smiled at her as she approached the bridge. "Hi," Rory said, smiling slightly. "How was your weekend?" Jess shoved his hands in his pockets. "All right, good to be home." "Yeah," he agreed. "I couldn't wait to get out of here last year, but now that I'm back, it's not too bad." Rory sat down next to him. "When're you going back?" Jess asked her. "The bus comes at 8." "Mine too. Gotta ride back to Boston and then catch a bus there back to school," Jess replied. "That's good," Rory replied distractedly, thinking about Tristan. There was an uncomfortable silence between them. "So, you're probably wondering why I came to Boston..," Jess admitted. "A little.. I take that it wasn't just the tourist attractions," Rory said. "Nah, actually...," Jess started. They both looked up at the sound of footsteps. "Dean...," Rory said. "Hi." Dean had a glazed look on his face. "Hey, haven't seen you in a while..." Rory smiled sadly. "Yeah, well." She thought back to the night of their breakup; it had been almost a year now. "See you," Dean said quietly and passed them by. 'She's back with Jess.' Rory watched as Dean walked away. "So, you were saying?" Jess swallowed nervously. 'Does she still have feelings for Dean?' He shook the thought out of his head and decided to give it a go. "I've been thinking about us a lot lately," he blurted. Rory looked at him. "Us?" "Yeah.. I mean, I know we're far away from each other, but I think.. I think I love you." Jess picked a piece of lint off his pants. Rory closed her eyes. "I'm sorry, Jess...," She said quietly. "But.. there's this other guy.." 'I do like Tristan.' Jess nodded. 'Of course, she'll meet someone. She's pretty and smart.. guys like me don't get girls like her.' "Hey, it's fine.. I.. uh.. gotta get back to the diner before the dinner rush." He quickly got up from the bridge and started to jog away. "Jess!" Rory struggled to stand up. "Jess, wait!" Jess waved a hand goodbye at her, then started to run. 'You're an idiot, Mariano.' Rory watched him go. Then she stood by herself on the bridge, as dusk began to fall. ************************************ "Rory, the bus is here," Lorelai said sadly. Rory was standing at the bus stop with Lorelai, but her mind was definitely somewhere else. 'How am I going to face Tristan?' She thought. "Rory?" Lorelai tapped her daughter on the shoulder. "What? Oh, look, the bus is here," Rory pointed out. "How much am I paying for tuition at Harvard?" Lorelai asked. "Maybe I should have invested in a hearing aid instead." "Huh," Rory looked confused. She hugged Lorelai. "I'll come visit again soon." "I'll miss you, babe. Talk to you later?" Lorelai tried to sound peaceful. Rory nodded and waved goodbye as she got on the bus. ************************************ Rory sat down next to the window. The driver got on the bus and started the engine. As the bus started to pull away from the curb, she looked around the bus. Jess wasn't on the bus. Sighing, Rory slumped back in her seat. ************************************ Lorelai put her head down on the counter. "Coffee." Luke saw that she was in a bad mood and poured her a cup silently. "Through an IV." Luke smirked, then smiled sympathetically. "Something wrong?" "Everything. I had the worst weekend with Rory," Lorelai cried. "She changed! She's different. She doesn't want to do wild and crazy things. She doesn't like flamingoes. She doesn't mock. She's distracted, like she's thinking about something else..." "Well, at least one of you is normal now. That balances everything out." Lorelai groaned loudly. "I'm being serious here." "Sorry," Luke said shamefully. "She went off to college.. and now she's not the way she was... she's like someone else. Someone I don't know who finds people like me weird," Lorelai felt the tears fall down her face, and kept her head down so that Luke wouldn't see her cry. "It's like she's not my daughter anymore." "Hey, you're not weird and Rory loves you," Luke put his hand on her head. "It'll be okay, maybe she's just stressed about finals.." Lorelai lifted her tear streaked face to him. "School just started," She wailed. "Hey," Luke lifted her chin up with his hand. "She's just stressed." He walked around the counter and wrapped her in his arms. 'I've waited years to do this..,' he thought. 'Since the first day she walked in..' Lorelai put her chin on his shoulder and let him hug her. "Thanks, Luke," She whispered. "No problem." He held her tightly. "And.. I was serious about the IV, too." 


	11. Time to Talk

A tired Rory got off the bus. She looked at her watch. 'Ten thirty.' Rory stuffed her hands in her jacket pocket and started to walk across the Green. It was nice to back at school, but at the same time, she dreaded confronting Paris. 'I betrayed my best friend,' Rory shook her head. 'She'll never forgive me.' Rory trudged up the stairs to her dorm room and walked down the quiet hall. She hesitantly turned the key to open the door. Paris turned around and jumped up from her chair. "Oh my gosh, Rory!" She ran over and hugged her friend. Startled, Rory hugged Paris back. "This isn't about Tristan, is it?" She asked, trying to keep the mood light. Paris pulled back. "I'm still mad at you, but I thought you had been kidnapped, raped, and killed!" "Imaginative," Rory commented. "This means that you're not that mad, right?" "Oh, I'm still pretty mad." Paris furrowed her brow. "You don't run off without telling people where you're going! You didn't even call! Not even once!" "And you don't kiss other people's boyfriends...I'm sorry.. I was at home and I did a lot of thinking.." Paris sighed. "I did some thinking too." Rory sat down on her bed. Paris sat back down on her chair. "I was dreaming. I should have known that Tristan was playing with me," Paris continued. "He's always liked you, not me. I tell myself that every day, but when I see him, I just melt." Paris shook her head. "I'm an idiot." She turned to Rory. "It's not your fault that he kissed you." Rory looked at her with wide eyes. "Paris, it wasn't..." She started. "No, Rory, you don't have to explain. Don't try to protect him. I should have known..," Paris sighed and stood up from the chair. "Friends again?" "No, you don't understand...," Rory said. "Rory, I understand, I do. I understand that Tristan played with me and then kissed you. I really don't want to talk about this anymore." Paris sighed again. "I have to go to the library now. I'll see you later?" Rory nodded sadly and sat down. Paris grabbed her bag and left the room. 'It's not his fault...,' She thought. **************************** Lorelai and Luke sat together in the dimly lit diner. "Thanks for cheering me up," Lorelai said. Luke nodded. "No problem. Friends help friends." "You're more than just a friend.. you've always been there for me," Lorelai said. "You mean, with the coffee pot?" Luke joked. Lorelai smiled slightly. "You know what I mean." Luke nodded. Lorelai swallowed. "Are we... just friends?" Luke put his beer down on the table. "Do you.. want to be more?" Lorelai sipped her coffee. "I think so." Luke smiled at her. "Me too." He reached for her hand across the table. They held hands and sat quietly. **************************** Rory was sitting at her desk trying to concentrate on her work. A knock on the door startled her from her thoughts. "Come in," She called out and turned her chair towards the door. "Hi," Tristan said as he poked his head in. He tentatively walked into the room. "Paris isn't here?" "She went to the library," Rory replied. "Tristan.." "Rory.." Tristan said at the same time. "You go," Rory said. Tristan breathed deeply. "Look, I don't know what to do about this.. I like Paris and I don't want to hurt her..." Rory had a look of pain on her face. "Are you okay?" Tristan stopped and looked at her. "Yeah, fine, keep going," Rory said and tried not to think about how Paris thought that Tristan had been the one who kissed her, and not vice versa. "I didn't know what to think when you kissed me on Friday..," Tristan continued. "Paris thinks it was you," Rory interrupted. "She thinks it's your fault, and she refuses to listen to what I have to say." Tristan looked at her. "Me?" Tristan sighed. "Well, considering my history with girls, I guess I can't blame her." "But it's not your fault," Rory said furiously. "But she won't listen and I'm the bad one here..." "You're not bad," Tristan said, shaking his head. "It's a misunderstanding..." Rory started to cry. "I screwed it up between you guys and......" Tristan kissed her to quiet her. "Mmrrrphhh," Rory said as she pulled away. "What?" Tristan asked softly. "I think... I like you." Rory said with tears in her eyes. ************************** "I should go, it's already eleven," Lorelai said, putting her mug down. Luke smiled at her through the dark. "Did I ever tell you that you're beautiful?" Lorelai smiled shyly at him. "You're too nice to me." Luke took a gulp of his beer. "Don't go yet. I'll walk you home later." "Town's probably looking through the windows at us right now," Lorelai sighed. "Does it bother you?" "No." She smiled and put her hand over his. **************************** TOo musshy? Review, cuz that's what keeps me going! hehe 


	12. Why I hate my mother, by Lorelai Gilmore

Paris shoved her hands in her pockets and slowly started to walk across the Harvard Green. 'I knew it was too good to be true,' she shook her head, thinking about Tristan. But it had seemed so real, so genuine. The way that he had looked at her at Bricco's, the way he put his arm protectively around her, the way they laughed and talked..... Paris sat down under a tree in the dark. Her books fell in a pile next to her. "WHY?" She yelled in anguish. "Why doesn't Tristan like me?" She whispered softly as tears wet her face. "Why?" ************************ _The next morning....._ "Yes! Five minutes early," Lorelai sang as she breezed into the hotel. She was wearing a plaid skirt and a collared shirt with a v-neck sweater. "You look like that catholic school girl," Michel said. "Britney Spears?" Lorelai asked. "No, that Superstar girl," Michel replied curtly. Lorelai shrugged. "As long as it's not Britney Spears. I read at www.michellovesbritney.com that she went to a public high school." Michel looked shocked. "How did you know about that?" He whispered. "You bookmarked it on the computer, duh," Lorelai rolled her eyes. "It's okay, Michel. I'll keep your Britney Spears webpage a secret." "I'm going to take a walk," Michel said in a clipped tone. "...from anyone who is deaf," Lorelai called after him. Lorelai went to go find Sookie in the kitchen. "Sookie!" Sookie dropped her spoon in the pot. "Oh, darn!" She tried to fetch the spoon back out. "Sookie, forget the spoon. I'll get you a new spoon," Lorelai said and grabbed a random utensil from the counter. "But this is a bread knife," Sookie answered, holding the utensil Lorelai handed her. "Luke semi-asked me out," Lorelai announced smiling. "This is a bread knife," Sookie replied calmly. "SOokie! Concentrate here!" Lorelai said, rubbing her temples lightly. "Luke, possible date, lots of coffee!" "Bread knife," Sookie said, dangerously waving the knife in front of Lorelai. "Okay, if you must be that way, Ms. Bread Knife," Lorelai said and rolled her eyes. She grabbed a spoon from the drawer and handed it to Sookie. Sookie smiled brightly. "He asked you out!?" "Well, no," Lorelai blushed. "Semi-asked out. But we kissed and we held hands.." Sookie hugged her friend. "This is so exciting!" "You were right, Sookie," Lorelai said, smiling. "He is the one for me." "Ah-ha!" Sookie said and clapped. She dropped the second spoon in the pot. "My spoon!" "Oh, geez," Lorelai said and rolled her eyes. ************************* Paris opened her eyes and rolled over in her bed. Rory's bed was already empty. She sat up and stretched. Paris slipped on her flipflops and padded over the mirror hanging on the door. Her eyes were all splotchy and red from crying. After she sat outside thinking last night, she had snuck in really late to find Rory already sleeping. Paris couldn't help but feel an ache in her heart as she had watched Rory sleeping with a smile on her face. Part of her wanted to hang onto to Tristan, but the other half of her wondered what the point was. No matter how hard she held on, Tristan would always go running back to Rory. If Rory and Paris fell simultaneously, Tristan would run over to catch Rory first. 'And Paris falls....,' She thought of the irony as she grabbed her history book. ************************* "Hey, Luke," Lorelai said as she walked into the diner. Luke smiled and waved at her from the counter where he was waiting on a customer. Lorelai sauntered up to the counter and sat down. "Hi," She said. "Hi, there," Luke smiled. "What can I get you?" "You know what I noticed?" Lorelai said. "What?" "You don't grunt as much as you used to," Lorelai smiled sweetly. "When Rory and I first moved here, I couldn't understand what you were saying at all... and as the years went by, I started to catch words such as 'health risk' and 'painful' and 'death'. And just a couple of weeks ago, I made out the entire lecture." She beamed at Luke. Luke rolled his eyes. "I'm proud of you... Hey, isn't that Michel?" Lorelai turned around in her seat. "Oh my gosh, that is Michel!" The two watched as Michel walked past the diner with a woman. "That explains it," Lorelai said, spinning around to face Luke. "He's been taking a lot of walks lately. I thought it was for his health, but obviously.." "He got a girlfriend?" Luke asked. ".. he got a therapist of some sort. I've been recommending one for years!" Lorelai said. "Yours?" "Har, har. I think I liked you better when you could only grunt," Lorelai replied. ************************* "Hi, I'm Lorelai and I'm an alcoholic... Leave a message!" "Lorelai, when I said to change your message, I wanted a nice professional message. And did I ever tell you that I hate talking to machines? I hate talking to machines. And that alcoholic thing is not funny.. alcoholicism is a very serious illness. Well, I'm calling because I found this really nice young man for you. His name is Gerald Presley. He apparently invented the Tic-tac or the Post-It or something...." Lorelai rolled her eyes as her mother babbled on. "Gerald? Uck.. I don't want to be forever known as Gerald and Lorelai.. maybe Luke and Lorelai..," She smiled as she thought of Luke. True, they didn't have a real date as of yet, but both of them had fallen into some type of weird semi-seeing-each-other relationship. It was like he had attempted to ask her out formally a couple of times, but things just kept getting in the way. "Gerald," Lorelai said out loud and rolled her eyes. "Gerald, you are so sexy.... so sexy, too sexy, for your..." Lorelai stopped talking when the door bell rang. "It's open," Lorelai yelled out from the couch. Luke opened the door cautiously. "I could be a serial killer, you know." "But you're not, so come in." Luke stepped into the living room. "Hi," he said and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Hi," Lorelai said as her mother's voice started to fade away on the answering machine. "I was.. you know, I kinda didn't have time to ask you today at the diner.. but uh.. are you free tomorrow?" Luke shuffled around nervously. 'He's so cute,' Lorelai thought looked at him fumbling. "I don't know.. I think I have an appointment with my therapist," She replied coyly. Luke looked a little crestfallen. "But, since she's seeing Michel now, I think I could squeeze you in." Luke relaxed and smiled. "Great, and I'll try to grunt as much as possible." Lorelai smiled back. "OOoga Booga...I'll see you then?" He nodded and left. Lorelai jumped when the phone rang again. She picked it up. "Lorelai, change your message on the answering machine." Lorelai groaned inwardly at the sound of her mother's voice. "Hi, Mom." "Lorelai, when I said to change your message, I didn't mean to change it like that! What are you going to do if someone calls your house to talk about business matters?" "I don't give out my phone number," Lorelai said, bored, as she twirled the telephone wire around her finger. "Lorelai.." "Mom, is there a point to this call, because I'm kind of busy doing... stuff." "You probably got my message but decided not to call back. So, I just decided to call you again. Gerald Presley is coming to town." "You make him sound like Santa." Emily ignored her. "I expect to see you at dinner tomorrow." Lorelai grimaced and slapped herself on the forehead. 'Tomorrow is saved for Luke.' "Mom, I can't make it tomorrow." "Why, are you sitting at home trying to think of a better phone message?" "No, I'm .. busy." The last thing Lorelai wanted was for her mother to get involved with Luke and her. She wanted to keep it a secret for now. "I have a lot of things to do." "I expect to see you tomorrow. Remember, we had deal, Lorelai." Lorelai groaned loudly into the phone. "Mom... you wanted to help pay for the tuition. I didn't ask for it. And now you want me to show up at your doorstop wearing a pretty little dress and perfect makeup and make conversation with guys named after dead presidents who invented completely trivial things, such as the Tic-Tac and the heated toilet seat!" "An agreement is an agreement. You're not...." ".. getting any younger?" Lorelai finished. "I know." 'Rory's tuition needs to be paid.' "I'll see you tomorrow night at seven." Lorelai hung up the phone and folded her arms across her chest. She didn't want to go back and turn Luke down, but it seemed that she had no choice. But how was she going to tell him that she had to go to her parents to have dinner with another man. Lorelai sighed and got up from the couch to grab her jacket. She'd figure something out on the way to the diner. 


	13. Choices

Luke grinned as he walked into the dinner. He knew he was beaming and honestly, he didn't want anyone to see, but he couldn't help himself. 'Luke Danes never beams,' he thought. But Lorelai made him feel so good. The way she smiled, how she begged incessantly for that 'last' cup of coffee.. and how she ran to him, everytime, when she felt badly. Maybe she had liked him as much as he had in the past years.. but never had the courage to admit it. But that night, the first time they kissed, he was relieved that she had taken the first step. But on the other hand, she sometimes seemed reluctant. Other times, he could feel that she wanted this to work as much as he did. And tonight, when she had said yes, he knew that she did. ******************************* Lorelai kicked the leaves on the ground as she walked across the middle of town. She stopped when she approached the gazebo and leaned against a stair railing. She still had a lot to sort out. Her feelings about Luke.. in the past few days, he'd been more open to her than he had ever been in the last decade. He had _asked_ her out. Lorelai hadn't been that surprised because she had been expecting it. She had told Sookie.. and she had been ecstatic. But now, she didn't know where this hesitation was coming from. Her mother? No, she had never listened to her mother before. This wasn't the time to start. Besides, she didn't _have_ to go to the dinner tomorrow with Gerald. Yet, she was choosing to, wasn't she? She was choosing to go to the dinner with some guy named Gerald.. instead of going out to dinner with Luke tomorrow. 'Isn't Luke who you wanted?' Lorelai sighed. She didn't want to make a mistake with Luke. She had screwed up with Max and ... Chris was gone. The last thing she wanted was to lose Luke, either as a friend or... a boyfriend. ******************************* Tristan looked at Rory as she was reading, lying down on a couch. "Hi," he said smiling. "Hi," Rory said absentmindedly as she highlighted a line in the book. "Stop studying," Tristan said, frowning. Rory grinned. "Start studying." "Nah," Tristan shrugged and put his book in his backpack. Rory sighed and sat up. "What are we going to tell Paris?" "What is there to tell?" Tristan raised an eyebrow. "We.. uh.. kissed." "That's what we need to tell her," Rory explained. "And.. maybe.. how we might be more than friends?" Tristan smiled. "Are we?" "I don't know," Rory said shaking her head. "I can't even think straight." She thought back to seeing Jess and Dean the past weekend. Jess had outright admitted that he loved her. And what did she do? She had... she had to refuse it. He had walked away, trying to cover his pain, like a puppy running with his tail tucked under. And his face expression.. GOd, she would never be able to put that moment away. What had supposed to have been a relaxing weekend with Lorelai had turned into the biggest relationship disaster in Rory history. Tristan stopped smiling. "I need to know, Rory." He sighed. "You know how I feel. And now I have to know how you feel." He picked up his backpack. "Talk to you tomorrow?" Rory smiled sadly. "Yeah." ******************************** Lorelai was still leaning against the gazebo. 'Just go in there..' She thought. She was, utterly confused about her feelings. When she was with him, she felt a warmth that she hadn't felt in ages. It told her to take a chance with Luke. But sometimes she would hesitate, afraid that she might mess up the easy going relationship that they had. 'It's too late to turn back,' she thought. And it was too late. They had kissed and held hands. True, in both cases, it was because Lorelai had been upset and she had run to Luke, but... the spark had been there. 'I don't know,' she thought. 'Maybe.. we should slow down.' She was scared. ********************************* Luke looked up when he heard the jingling of the bell. It was Lorelai. "Hey, you," She said and smiled softly. "Hi," He grinned. "I.. uh.. came to talk about tomorrow," She said. Luke finished wiping the counter and sat down on a stool. He pointed to the stool next to her. Lorelai walked over and sat down. 'God, she smells good,' Luke thought as he got a whiff of her clean, sweet scent. "So, what's up?" He asked. Lorelai was fidgeting with her hands. "I.. uh.. I don't know.. if I'm ready," She said slowly. Luke's face fell. "Oh... ready, right," He nodded. "Don't take this personally, please," Lorelai begged him as she took his hand in hers. "I do like you, Luke. But I'm scared..." Luke let his limp hand stay in hers. 'I think I love you,' he thought. "Oh." "I'm scared that it won't work out.. I'm scared that I might let something bad happen to you, like what happened to Max." She bit her lip. "Could you give me more time?" Suddenly, Luke was angry. She had given Max a chance, but he was being pushed out of the picture again. He had waited for her. He had sat with her through her pain with Max, with Rory's leaving.. He didn't want to wait anymore. Yes, he loved her, but he wanted to be with her, goddamnit! He slowly removed his hand from hers. "Lorelai," he said, sharper than he intended too. Luke tried to soften his voice. "Loreali, I like you. A lot. But.. you can't keep making me wait. I've waited. I've waited for you, I've been there for you.. and I want to be with you..." He trailed off. Lorelai felt the tears falling down her face. "I can't wait for you to make up your mind about us. I'm just.. too tired for this right now." Luke got up from his seat and started for the stairs. "Will you lock the door for me on the way out?" She nodded, crying and watched as he made his way up to his apartment. 


	14. Running away

Lorelai closed the diner door behind her as quietly as possible. There was no sound coming from Luke's apartment so she assumed that he had gone to sleep. She shoved her hands in her pockets and took one last look at the upstairs windows before making her way back home. *********************** Luke heard the door close downstairs and got up from his chair. He had been sitting in the dark, thinking about everything that had just happened. 'It just doesn't make any sense,' He thought, watching Lorelai walk away. 'One minute she's ready to date, the next she's not?' Luke groaned and went to go lie down on his bed. He couldn't get her out of his head. ************************ Once home, Lorelai felt restless. Nothing on television interested her, and she didn't feel sleepy. She felt tired, but it wasn't her body that felt tired, it was her mind and her heart. She was on an emotional rollercoaster and it wasn't ready to let up yet. Lorelai got up from the sofa and grabbed her cars keys. She needed to get out. ************************ "Paris?" Rory rolled over in her bed and called out to her friend. "MMrrmmphhhhhh," Paris mumbled. "Never mind," She said to her friend's sleeping form. 'What am I doing?' she thought to herself as she turned towards the wall. 'I can't talk to Paris about this...' There was only one person she could talk to. Rory softly got out of her bed and grabbed her cell phone. Pulling on a jacket, she quietly left the room. Once outside, Rory shivered as the chilly fall air nipped at her face. Teeth chattering, Rory jumped up and down and hoped her mom was home. "Come on, Mom," Rory said. "Pick up." It was eleven o'clock. Where could her mother be? ************************ Lorelai had been driving for about an hour now. She didn't know where she was going, but it rather soothed her to know that she was leaving her problems behind in Star's Hollow. She had work tomorrow, but, she just couldn't face work after what had just happened. Lorelai was just driving, driving to nowhere. She turned on the radio. _"Sorry I never told you  
All I wanted to say  
And now it's too late to hold you  
'Cause you've flown away  
So far away..." Never had I imagined  
Living without your smile  
Feeling and knowing you hear me  
It keeps me alive  
Alive_ Lorelai started to cry as she heard Mariah Carey crooning over the radio about a love long lost. 'Is that how I'm going to feel if I lose Luke?' She thought. 'I've already lost him...' Up ahead, on the road, she was coming up to a curve. Suddenly, her car was bathed in the bright headlights of an eighteen wheel tractor-trailer. ************************ "Oh my god!" The driver yelled as he jumped out of his truck. The impact of the tractor-trailer hitting the jeep had almost crushed the entire car. He was pretty much uninjured, except for a small bruise on his forehead from hitting the steering wheel. But the jeep... Oh, God, the jeep..... The driver hesitantly approached the crushed vehicle and straining his ears, he heard a garbled sound.. _"Sorry I never told you, all I wanted to say..........."_


	15. I can wait

The moment you've been waiting for..? hehe well, my english paper and bio test are finished!! yay.. hopefully i did well on the bio test.. (Thanx to TayLiz) i'm scared to get it back.. x( Thanks to those who have been enthusiastically reading and reviewing!! I really appreciate it.. K, here goes ***************************** _"Sorry I never told you  
All I wanted to say  
And now it's too late to hold you  
'Cause you've flown away  
So far away..." Never had I imagined  
Living without your smile  
Feeling and knowing you hear me  
It keeps me alive  
Alive.."_ Luke had turned on the radio and closed his eyes to think. He suddenly opened them as he heard the lyrics of 'One Sweet Day' come over the radio. "Oh my god. What was I thinking?" Luke wanted to hit himself. Lorelai had admitted that she liked him too.. she just needed the time to think. He could wait. He _had_ waited, for years. He could wait a couple more days, a couple more weeks. He was so angry with himself. He loved her.... Now he had to tell her that he could be patient. Luke grabbed his jacket and ran out, hoping it wasn't too late to tell her... ****************************** The paramedics cautiously walked up to the smashed vehicle. "Jesus," breathed one of the paramedics, shaking his head. "This looks really bad." His partner sighed as she looked at the crushed vehicle. "I hate seeing things like this," she answered. He nodded. They went to go get a stretcher. ****************************** "LORELAI!" Luke called out as he pounded on the door. The lights were out in the house but he could hear the phone ringing. "LORELAI!" There were no signs of life from inside the house. ".. leave a message.." Luke strained to hear what was being said on the answering machine. "... it's Rory..." She obviously wasn't home if she didn't pick up when Rory called. He ran down the porch steps to the driveway. The jeep was gone. ****************************** _At 3 AM....._ Dr. Johnson shook his head sadly as he peered through the window at the new patient that had just arrived that night. It didn't look to good for her. "That bad, huh?" Dr. Johnson turned around to see Dr. Dobely standing next to him. "It doesn't look good." "What happened?" She asked peering through the glass. "Eighteen wheeler totally crushed the car while turning a bad curve.. paramedics said the car was completely totaled... we could barely make out her features when they brought her in...," He sighed. "Jesus," Dr. Dobely commented. "Two broken legs, a couple shattered bones... major blood loss, bruises covering almost every inch of her body...," Dr. Johnson trailed off and shoved his hands in his white coat pockets. "And on top of that, major head trauma.. she's in a coma. I hope she makes it through." "Did you get in contact with the family yet?" "Nope, no answers at the house..." Dr. Johnson looked deeply troubled. "Her cellphone was totally crushed too. All we got was her half melted driver's license and a napkin about some diner. Police are supposed to go check it out tomorrow." Dr. Dobely patted him softly on the shoulder. "She'll be okay.. you better get some sleep." She knew how how emotional he got when he saw patients like his. His own wife had been killed in a drunk driving accident a few years past. Dr. Johnson nodded and followed her out of the ICU. **************************** Luke shivered as he sat on the porch steps. It was almost 3:30 AM and no sign of Lorelai yet. He had run back to the diner to call her on her cell, but there was no answer. Just the monotonous strains of 'This phone number has been disconnected...' What did that mean? Where had she suddenly disappeared to? He thought that maybe she had gone to her parents' house at first, but that seemed unlikely. It was too late to bother Sookie... So he sat there, nodding off and waiting for her to come home to him. **************************** _The next morning..._ Luke opened his eyes as the bright sunlight hit him in the face. His body ached and he was freezing. He shivered and got up stiffly. Stretching, he looked to the driveway. No jeep yet. "Where the hell is she?" he growled. Meantime, he decided to run to the diner to change clothes. He would come back and wait. He could wait forever. **************************** Officer Bentley drove up to the little house and got out of the car. Star's Hollow was a cute town and he had enjoyed watching the sunrise as he drove in. However, this new job he had of finding the relatives of Lorelai Gilmore was hardly pleasing. He knocked on the door and braced himself. He hated telling people bad news, but it was part of the job. No answer. He peeked through the window. It was completely dark inside. There were no sounds of feet pattering down the stairs. He rapped on the door, louder this time. "Hello?" He called out. There was no one home. He shook his head sadly. He'd gone to see the woman this morning and she didn't look like the type to be alone. 'Sad when people live alone,' he thought. He walked down the porch steps back to his car. 'Time to check out the diner,' He thought. **************************** Luke ran downstairs after changing and was about to run out the door when he was hit with a crowd of customers. Groaning, he skid to a stop and opened the door for them. "Good, you're here early!" Taylor said as he walked in. "First time, I think." Luke rolled his eyes, wishing that they would all go away. "I'm always here early," Luke grumbled. He had wanted to be there when she got home. Where would she go? His mind was screaming questions and no answers were coming. "Oh, good morning, Luke. You looks chipper this morning," Patty smiled at him. "And unbelievely irresist-..." Luke cut her off. "Hi, Patty." The woman smiled at him as she wanted to eat him up in one bite. It made him uncomfortable, but he was used to it. "What can I get you?" "Hm.. coffee and toast would be nice," Patty answered. "Coming right up," Luke scribbled the order on a pad and moved on to take a couple other orders. "What do you want, Kirk?" "Pancakes with... butter.. and syrup....," Kirk said slowly. "Okay, you keep deciding and I'll bring it out," Luke cut him off and started towards the kitchen. 'Where the hell is Caeser?' He wondered, angry with his chef for being late on a day like this. A couple minutes later, he came out balancing four plates on his arms. Luke was startled by a policeman who entered the diner. It wasn't a Stars Hollow policeman. He wore a different color uniform. Everyone looked up at the man. "Uh...," The policeman said uncomfortably. "I'm looking for someone who knows a Lorelai Gilmore?" Everyone looked to Luke. "What happened to her??" Luke said, breathing heavily. The officer hung his head. "I'm sorry.. she was in a car accident last night..." Luke dropped the plates on the ground. They shattered to a million pieces, along with his heart. "No...," He breathed. Luke brought his hands up to his face. "How bad is it?" He asked through his hands. "It doesn't look good...," The officer said quietly. "There was a big truck....." "Take me to her," Luke said, struggling not to let anyone see his tears. 'No.. not yet....you can't die yet..' **************************** Through his tears, Luke stared at Lorelai and reached for her hand. He could barely see her face through all the tubes. He wanted to hit someone, something... and the only thing available was himself. He wanted to punch himself for gettin her upset.. and for taking that car ride.. for getting in front of the eighteen wheeler that had hurt her..... If only, if only... 'Wake up,' He willed her. "Wake up, I love you." He had been afraid of rejection.. but now wasn't hte time to be afraid, was it? She didn't respond. "I love you, damnit," He said a little more forcefully. "Wake up." She didn't stir. He softly brushed her brown hair from her forehead. The scars and bruises looked so painful.. he so badly wanted to take the pain for her. And what was killing him was the fact that she was so goddamn quiet. She was never quiet.... She was bubbly and bouncy and outgoing.. and that's why he loved her.. He sat there quietly, tears falling down his face. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_'Cause I've lost loved ones in my life  
Who never knew how much I loved them   
Now I live with the regret   
That my true feelings for them never were revealed   
So I made a promise to myself   
To say each day how much she means to me   
And avoid that circumstance   
Where there's no second chance to tell her how I feel..._  
- Garth Brooks **************************** Sookie tried to control herself as Patty told her the news. "You're kidding me right?" she asked softly. "No, I'm not," Patty said quietly. "We called the hospital, and it doesn't look good. She's in a coma..." Sookie wiped her tears away with a napkin. "She's too young..." Patty shook her head. "She is..." "Is anyone down there?" Sookie asked as she grabbed a napkin. "Luke," Patty answered. "And he's in a lot of pain.. we thought it'd be best if we let him have time alone with her for a while.. and later we'll go see her." Sookie nodded. "Did you call Rory yet?" Patty sighed. "That's what I came here for.. to tell you and to ask if you could call Rory... none of us have her number." Sookie hung her head. "That's not going to be easy.. and her parents.. we have to call them too." Patty nodded and put her hand on top of Sookie's. "It'll be okay.. I think it will.. Luke is there with her.." Sookie took a big gulp of air and let it out slowly. "I hope so," she said shaking her head. **************************** Emily Gilmore rushed into the ICU and looked around rapidly. She spotted a nurse and ran up to her. "I need to find Lorelai Gilmore!" She said, out of breath. The nurse slowly walked over to the nurse's station. "Relation?" "I'm her mother, damnit!" Emily yelled in anger. "I need to see my daughter!" The nurse nodded and said, "Room 14." Emily ran over, but was stopped short by the scene inside the glass encased room. There was Luke, the diner man from what she remembered.. he was asleep, his head on the bed next to hers, and his hand firmly grasping hers... Emily swallowed and decided to let the scene before her continue. She quietly left the ICU. ***************************** A/N: AHHHH your reviews made me wanna continue with this.. =) So continuing reviewing and I'll keep writing .. ur reviews are my motivation =) I like criticism too hehe Thanks for your support -Ggirl 


	16. Hold my hand

HEyyy thanx to everyone for the nice comments! Greatly appreciated..!! And those people who said that they hope that I did well on my bio test.. u're so nice hehe Tho, no amount of niceness could save me.. lol I suck at bio xT ********************* Jess lay on his bed with his head in his book. "I hate school," He said to no one in particular. His loser roommate was out with his friends, and _he_ was stuck in his dorm on a Friday night studying for a test. Or supposed to be... Ever since he had gotten back from Star's Hollow, he could not stop thinking about Rory. Seeing her again had been a mistake. Those clear blue eyes...her smile.. it was all torturing him. And the fact that she was one of the few people that he could have discussions with forever and not get annoyed at her.. Why had he opened his big mouth and ruined the friendship? Even if they couldn't go out again, if it wasn't for him, they could at least be friends. But he had gone and screwed it all up. Jess slammed his book shut. He had to do something about this. He grabbed his jacket and his wallet. And hoped that there were still bus tickets left for Boston. ********************** Luke woke up and rubbed his eyes with his right hand. Light was streaming through the windows. 'Where am I?' He thought. He looked up and saw Lorelai. 'The hospital...' Yesterday came pouring back to him. He remembered sleeping on her porch, going to the diner, freaking out and coming to the hospital.. and seeing her like this. He felt an ache in his heart. "Coffee?" Luke turned his head to see a woman standing with two cups of coffee. She had a fleeting resemblence to Lorelai. "Uh.. Mrs. Gilmore?" Luke asked. "Yes, and you are the Iceman," Emily said and handed him a cup. "Uh.. yeah, I'm Luke," Luke replied and took the cup. He didn't drink coffee but he didn't want to seem ungrateful. "You must be tired, sleeping here like this," She noted. "Go home for a little while. I'll watch her." He honestly didn't care that he was tired. And he didn't want to leave Lorelai's side. "I'm okay," He said. "I'll just stay for a little while more." Emily Gilmore smiled. "Could I get a little bit of time with her then?" "Sure," Luke smiled faintly and started to get up. He couldn't. Lorelai's hand was tightly grasped around his. *********************** Rory banged on Sookie's front door and collapsed into her arms when Sookie opened it. Sookie hugged her tightly. "It's okay, it's okay.. Shhhh...," Sookie said soothingly. "Oh my god, oh my god...," Rory was sobbing. "Did you see her yet?" Sookie smoothed Rory's hair. "No, I haven't been to the hospital yet," Rory sniffled. Sookie grabbed her car keys from the hall table. "Let's go." She tried to soun as reassuring as possible, but she felt weak in the knees. Her best friend was possibly on the brink of death. She felt sick. But Sookie knew that she needed to be strong, if only for Rory. "Come on, hon," Sookie said to the crying girl. "Your mom will be okay. She's strong." *********************** Two hours later, Jess got off the bus in Boston. As he was approaching the ivy covered gates that led to Harvard University, he started getting a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. 'What am I doing?' He asked himself, swallowing hard. 'Am I making some kind of mistake?' Rory had said there was someone else... what if she was with him at this very moment? He turned around. 'But what if..' Jess stopped in his tracks. 'No, I'm gonna try to win her back.' As he entered the gates, he had a brilliant idea. Jamming his hands in his pockets, Jess looked for his wallet to check how much money he had left. It was probably not enough for both his surprise and his bus ticket back to school, but he really couldn't care less. *********************** "I guess you should stay," Emily said to break the silence. They had both been shocked to see that Lorelai wasn't letting go of Luke's hand. Dr. Johnson looked on approvingly. "She's subconciously awake," He smiled. "This is a very good sign. She knows that her husband's by her side." Luke shifted uncomfortably. "Right," He answered. "The tough part is almost over," Dr. Johnson said. He was so glad that the patient had given them the sign that she was okay. She would hopefully wake up soon. "Uh.. what do I do if I need to use the restroom?" Luke asked, shifting in his seat. Dr. Johnson held back a laugh. "Just pull back gently." Luke tried to but it seemed like Lorelai was playing 'Who can hold onto Luke the longest?' or something. "She...," He mumbled. Emily sighed and got up from her seat. "Here," She said and gingerly unwrapped Lorelai's hand from Luke's. Shaking his hand , Luke started to get up. The tingling feeling of Lorelai's hand around his wasn't wearing off. And he liked it. He smiled softly to himself as he went to go friend a restroom. ************************ Holding two paper bags, a smiling Jess entered Harvard Green. 'Now the problem is finding her...,' He thought shifting the bags in his arms. "Hey!" He yelled at a blonde girl, reading a book, who was rapidly walking past. She looked up from her book and turned around. "Paris?" She was actually the last person he had expected to see. But it must have been fate to meet her so quickly. He was in luck. 'Maybe this is a sign that Rory and I still have a chance...' "Jess?" "Paris?" "Jess?" "Paris?" He was just fooling with her now. He felt excited about seeing Rory again. "Oh, stop it..," She frowned. "What are you doing here? Rory went home." "Oh," Jess said. "Oh." His shoulders sagged. 'AHh.. why are all the guys after Rory?!' Paris asked herself. "Why'd she go home?" He asked. "I don't know.. there was a phone call early this morning.. I was sleeping and she just shook me awake and said something about going home. When I woke up she was gone," Paris shrugged. Jess sighed. "Great, now I have all this food and stuff and I don't know what to do with it." Paris shrugged again. He had an idea. "Hey... did you ever see 'Monty Python's History of the World'?" *********************** AN: I hope you guys like this so far! Wheeee college apps SUCK! R/R por favor! =) 


	17. Sometimes I just sit and cry

Oh my gosh, u guys are too sweet!! realy, i mean...i'm not that great of a writer.. And yes, writing is cathartic! lol ANd for those of you who are takign AP bio.. I FEEL YOUR PAIN!! -Ggirl =) ************************** Taylor banged his gavel. "Attention! Can I get your attention?" As usual, no one was paying attention to Taylor. "HELLO!" He hollered. "Hey, I think that man in the cardigan is speaking," Lorelai said to Luke. Luke took her face softly in his hands. "So we can resume making out in public?" Lorelai giggled and cuddled next to him. "Exactly!" Taylor banged his gavel violently. "Can we settle down? And will you two stop..." Patty smiled slyly. "No, do continue!" Babette called out, "I second that!" Taylor looked exasperated. "How come you two never show any enthusiasm for any of my business?" He hmphed and put his hands on his hips. Patty cocked her head at Babette. They both shrugged. "Anyways," Taylor said shaking his head at the happy couple. "The first order of business is the Star's Hollow firemen." "Oooh, firemen!" Lorelai stopped gazing into Luke's eyes and clapped her hands. "Stop that," Taylor said sternly. "The Star's Hollow firemen want to buy longer hoses.." "Ooo, dirty!" Lorelai said giggling. Even Luke had to laugh at Taylor's discomfort. "Stop that!!" Taylor yelled. Suddenly Taylor started beeping..... Taylor.. beeping? "WHAT?" Luke yelled and abruptly sat up in his cot. He shook his head. It had been a dream... Lorelai was still in the hospital bed next to him. And she was still... Luke sighed sadly. 'My fault, my fault,' He thought guiltily. Then he realized that the beeping was coming from her. Her blood pressure was steadily decreasing and the machine was making crazy noises. "Oh my god," Luke said and jumped up from the cot. ************************* Five minutes later, Luke was ushered out of the room. "No, No!" Luke yelled and banged on the glass door. The nurse tried to calm him down and take him to a seating area, but he pushed her away. "Mr. Gilmore... Sir, you can't...," She begged. "NOOOO!" Luke started hitting the glass. His fists were hurting him, but nothing compared to what he felt in his heart. The nurses and doctors were running around the tiny room carrying various instruments and yelling orders. "Let me in!" He screamed. If she was going to die.. No. He shook his head violently. He couldn't think about that. The nurses, realizing that he would eventually tire out, left him alone. ************************* 'It was so real..,' He thought banging on the glass door. 'She was alive and well.. and kissing me and saying 'dirty'... and God, she was so beautiful..' He knew that no one was going to let him into the room. But it didn't matter. Lorelai might be dying and he was stuck here, on the other side. He laughed at the irony. 'As always, Luke Danes is separated from Lorelai by a glass wall..' He stopped banging and looked at his swelling fists. Head down, he leaned against the glass and slid down to sit against the door. "No.. please," Luke whispered. "Please don't die, Lorelai..." His body shuddering, Luke sat alone in his own grief. ************************* Rory hadn't stopped crying since they had left the hospital a couple hours ago. She was sitting on the floor in Sookie's living room with a box of tissues. Sookie brought her coffee and soup. Setting the tray down, Sookie tried to console her. "Rory, please, hon... your mom will be fine. She looked.. fine.." Sookie closed her eyes and tried to shut out the image of Lorelai in the hospital bed.. 'God, what am I saying? She looked like she gonna...' Sookie shook her head. No, she wasn't even going to think the d-word. Rory sobbed louder. "I love her.. what if she doesn't know? I haven't been calling ... and...she can't die... she can't die.." "Honey," Sookie sat down next to Rory on the floor and rubbed her back. "Don't cry, you have to be strong for her.. when she comes back home, she won't be able to do stuff by herself.. and she needs you to be strong. And go back to school and get amazing grades and be smart.. and happy. She wants you to be happy." 'Even if she...' Sookie tried to push back the tears that were forming in the back of her eyes. They were threatening to fall. She couldn't win. Closing her eyes, Sookie let the pools of tears fall down her face and sat rubbing Rory's back. 


	18. Not like this

OMG, fanfiction was down yesterday.. and I had ch. 18 all written and AHHH i checked the site literally like 15 times yesterday.. but it never went up~! Well, here it is.. i hope you guys like it =) You guys have all been so nice with your reviews and i appreciate it so much!!! I feel so euphoric today!!!!!! lol Well, I hope you enjoy and R/R =P -Ggirl =) A/N: Hey, I editted some parts of the story because I realized that it was really confusing. Hope this is better. =) ********************** When Dr. Johnson finally opened the glass door at 2 AM, he saw Luke dozing against it. He gently shook the man awake. Luke groggily looked up at him. "Do you need something for your hands?" Luke looked down at his now bluing hands. They were still a little swollen and starting to turn black and blue. "I...," Luke started and shook his head. "I want to stay here." Dr. Johnson shook his head in understanding as the other doctors and nurses quietly left the room. Luke sat there quietly until Dr. Johnson came back with an ice pack. "Keep this on," the doctor said. Luke took the ice pack but ignored the doctor's instruction. "How is she?" He asked, looking to the other man with hope. "She's okay?" 'Please...' Dr. Johnson sighed and a tired look came over his face. When he had seen the patient gripping her husband's hand yesterday morning, he had been so sure ... but now, her life hung on a thin thread, precariously balanced between life and death. "I'm sorry but there doesn't seem that there is much more that we can do.. I'm not sure if she'll make it through the night..," Dr. Johnson said lowering his eyes from Luke. He hated giving into death. Many times he had been defeated by it and every time it became more and more painful. Dr. Johnson closed his eyes and remembering his wife, he said, "I'm really sorry.." Luke felt like the world was closing in on him. He closed his eyes and the ice pack dropped from his hands. Then he suddenly picked it up and was about to throw it. "No," Dr. Johnson grabbed his arm. "I know how it feels... I know what it's like to have my wife die in an accident. But your acting up isn't going to make it better.." Luke slowly put his arm down. 'My wife?' He thought bitterly. 'We never even went on a date...' "You can go in the room now, Mr. Gilmore," Dr. Johnson said quietly and he left Luke standing in front of room 14. ************************* Luke just stood there. He was scared to go in.... "Is this how it ends?" He thought bitterly, hot tears falling down his face. "I loved her.. and this is how it ends?" He hadn't been able to tell her and that's what hurt. She was dying....... and he was dying with her. ************************* From the nurse's station, two nurses watched at the man crying in front of room 14. "God," One said, turning to the other. "Can you just tell that he loves her so much?" She nodded slowly. "Yeah, it's so sad." They both sighed and turned back to their work. ************************* Taking a deep breath, Luke walked into room and stood at the doorway. Lorelai's silence was ripping his heart apart like it was.. 'Chop suey,' He thought. He didn't know why he was suddenly making jokes to himself. 'Because that's what she is ... funny...' He smiled slightly. 'I will always remember you for being the amazing, funny, beautiful person you are.' He didn't want to remember her as being bruised and tired and lying wordlessly in a cold hospital bed ... she was Lorelai, the woman who walked into his life and brought disaster and chaos into it .. along with love and laughter... "I told you eating too many hamburgers would kill you," Luke whispered through his tears as he walked nearer to the bed. "I told you..." He gently touched her face. "I should have converted you to chicken.." He laughed softly. "I should have danced when you asked me to... you would have liked to see that, huh?" He brushed her cheek with his thumb. Luke started to carefully peel away the cold sheets covering her and softly pushed her to one side of the bed. He lay down next to her on the hospital bed and wrapped his arms around her as gingerly as possible. 'She feels so cold...' He tried to warm her with his own body heat. Luke put his head down on the pillow next to hers and stared at her face, trying to memorize every detail, every curve and every shadow. "Remember how you made me buy that ridiculous basket? Two stale poptarts and slimjims..." He cried softly. "You would have eaten them..." He kissed her on the nose. He felt her gasps of breath on his fingers. His tears ran down her cheek. "Will you remember me? And.. say hi to my dad for me..." The ache in his heart was tearing him apart and he felt so tired... Luke started to doze off, mumbling incoherently. "Remember when.... and how you......' Luke kissed her softly on the lips. '......I love you with all my heart...." His eyelids fluttered as he struggled to keep awake.. he gave in and they closed. He was soon soundly asleep, with dreams of Lorelai filling his mind and heart. Luke fell into a deep sleep, with his face burrowed in Lorelai's shoulder. A single tear ran down Lorelai's face....... 


	19. Cahhhhhh

Hey, now that everyone's confused.. i must have gotten it right (the title "casts, boredom, and confusion").. okay, kidding, that wasn't the effect I was going for.. but... to clear it up for you, yes, it was Lorelai's tear that was falling down Lorelai's cheek.. therefore meaning .... read on! hehe -Ggirl *********************** Her ears were ringing and her head felt like it hadn't had coffee in years. Her mouth felt so dry and her tongue was like sandpaper. She tried to lick her lips but it did nothing to soothe her chapped lips. She opened her mouth but she couldn't speak. Her head felt like it had been run over by a streamroller and then inflated again. God, the pain was killer. And she felt so tired. Her body was sore and she couldn't move her legs or her arms. 'Where am I?' She thought. Lorelai slowly opened her eyes. The sunlight stung her eyes but she struggled to keep them awake. It was only then that she noticed that there was someone else in the bed with her. She averted her eyes to the right because she couldn't really move her head. Lorelai caught a glimpse of red flannel. 'Luke,' She thought tenderly. Lorelai tried to turn over on her side but the tubes were making it difficult. 'Luke.' She tried to say it, but she couldn't speak. She gagged on tube going down her throat. 'Luke...' *********************** Luke lay silently on the bed next her, with his hand still holding hers. He was scared to open his eyes. 'I don't know if she'll make it through the night...' He thought back to what the doctor had said. Her hand felt relatively warm in his, but how could he be sure? Was she still alive? 'Please,' He thought, trying to make a deal with God. Then he felt her slightly squeeze his hand. Luke's eyes opened suddenly and he looked at her. "Lorelai??" He asked. She painfully blinked a couple times. 'Luke.' "Lorelai, can you talk?" Luke was getting excited. "Are you okay?" 'Hi, Luke.' She thought. She couldn't nod or move, and she hoped that he knew that inside she was smiling. 'Luke, you stayed with me...' ********************** "I can't believe it!" Luke was loudly into the phone. "She's awake! She's awake!" He was practically jumping for joy. No one would ever believe that it was him. Sookie squealed. "We're coming!" She sang and hung up. "RORY! Your mom woke up!" ********************** It seemed like half of Star's Hollow's population was stuffed in the little room. Patty, Taylor, Rory, Sookie, Kirk, Babette, Morey, Kirk's mom, even smelly Al... Lorelai was sleeping again and they tried to be as quiet as possible. "Are you sure she's okay?" Patty whispered to Dr. Johnson. He nodded. "She's in stable condition now." Dr. Johnson was so relieved. He had a fitful sleep last night, praying that Lorelai Gilmore would stay awake to see another day. And now seeing all these people in her room, he could finally see how much she was loved. Rory sat down on the cot that was next to Lorelai's hospital bed and stared at her mother with tears in her eyes. "Hey," Luke whispered and sat next to her. "She's okay." "I know," Rory sniffled. "I'm just so relieved." She sighed loudly. Lorelai opened her eyes and slowly rotated her head to the right. 'Rory.' "Mom!" Rory jumped up from the cot and hugged her mom. "Mom, are you okay?" 'Ow.' Lorelai had a look of pain on her face. "Oh, I'm so sorry," Rory said and gingerly removed her arms from around her mother. Suddenly, Emily and Richard Gilmore ran into the room. "Oh my God, Lorelai, you're okay!" Emily called out. She approached the bed and smiled at her daughter. "We were getting really worried about you, especially the Iceman." Luke hung his head and tried to cover up his embarrassment. "Yes, he was," Patty agreed and nodded to Dr. Johnson. "He was, wasn't he, Doctor?" Dr. Johnson smiled uncomfortably at the woman. 'She looks like she wants to jump my bones.' "Yes, he was very worried," Babette agreed and looked at the doctor. 'Whatta hunk.' Lorelai suddenly coughed. She seemed to be trying to speak. "Ccaahhhh," She managed to croak. "Huh?" Luke stood up from the cot and looked at her. "Cahhhhh..," Lorelai said and coughed again. "Can you understand what she's saying?" Rory asked Luke. "Cahhhh..," Lorelai started. "Ffeeeeee." Rory laughed out loud. Luke looked at Rory, puzzled. "What is it?" Cracking up, Rory managed to say, "Coffee." *************************** Ahhh sorry guys, I know this wasn't that great of a 'waking up' but argh, i couldn't really think of anything else. And in some parts, I felt like Luke was rather out of character, but well.. Hm.. By the way, if anyone is looking to watch a really good movie, I recommend "I am Sam".. omg, awesome movie!!! btw, i'm a hard core javajunkie.. I would **NEVER** kill Lorelai off!! hhehe 


	20. Kirk's chest hair

I can't help dragging things out.. I didn't mean to torture u guys!! plus she was in a coma for a long time!!!!!! or something like taht.. -Ggirl ******************************** It was only a matter of days before Lorelai could go home. "Today's the day!" Lorelai sang from her bed as Luke walked into the room. "I think I just heard the nurses singing the same thing," Luke said. "Ha!" Lorelai said crossing her arms. "They love me." ".. and the fact that you're leaving...," Luke said rolling his eyes. "Here, I brought you food." "Coffee?" Lorelai looked up to him with puppy eyes. Luke smiled at her with pity. "Doctor says no coffee for a couple more days." "Thanks Dr. Luke," Lorelai replied. "Bill's in the mail," Luke answered and handed her the carton. "Cahhhh-feeeeeeee," Lorelai said with begging eyes. "Oh God," Luke said. "Cahhh-feeeeeeeeeeeee." Lorelai took the styrofoam carton and opened it. The smell of pancakes overwhelmed her. "MMmm pancakes!" She started to gobble down the pancakes. "Well," Luke said looking at her. "At least your appetite's back." "My appetite has always been good," Lorelai said in between bites. "It's amazing how you eat," Luke said as he started to pack her stuff. Lorelai stopped eating and twisted around. "What are you doing?" Luke stopped packing to look at her. "I'm trying to see my butt," Lorelai said. "Do I look fat to you?" "Stop it," Luke said and rolled his eyes. He resumed packing. "You know you aren't." "Really!?" Lorelai squealed. "Oh, and all this time I thought I was horizontally challenged." Luke snorted. "Mary Kate and Ashley Magazine?" He waved a magazine in her face. "You'd be surprise how much educational material is packed into those 70 pages," Lorelai said as she ate some bacon. "Right. It's too bad only three people in the world know it," Luke said and smiled. He started throwing the CDs, videos, and clothes piled onto a sofa into a duffel. "Me," Lorelai said counting on her fingers. "Mary Kate, and Ashley! Gee, that is three. See how much I've learned?" "Uh..," Luke said and pointed to a pile of her underwear that was lying in the bottom of the sofa. Lorelai laughed at him. "Leave it. It'll be a surprise for the next patient..'Here's the bed, the sofa, and a nice pile of polka dot underwear'." Luke looked uncomfortable and moved on to stuff on the cot. "It's just underwear," Lorelai rolled her eyes. "You're sweating like a prostitute in church." Luke grunted. (AN: DIrty! Hehe) 'But it's _your_ underwear...' Lucky for Luke, Rory decided to enter the room at that very moment. "Hey!" Lorelai said and put the carton aside to hug her daughter. "Hi," Rory smiled. "How's it going?" "Good, can you do me a favor?" "Sure," Rory said and took off her jacket. "Can you put my underwear in the bag because Luke is being a baby and won't do it?" Lorelai asked. "Which, by the way, I didn't even wear!" Rory shrugged. "You wanted Luke to touch your undewear.." Luke blushed a deep red. He started to talk but Rory interrupted him. "I won't even ask..." She said and took it and threw it in the duffel. Rory had to grin to herself though because she knew why it made Luke uncomfortable. "I think we're done here," Luke said and shouldered the bag. "Man, you brought a lot of stuff." Lorelai shrugged. "I don't believe in packing light." "Are you dressed and everything?" "Hm... if you put it that way, tha would mean that I was undressed before...," Lorelai smiled and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. Luke turned red again. He looked ready to say something. Lorelai picked that exact moment to smile and announce, "I'm ready!" She paused for a second. "That suddenly sounded so... dirty." Rory rolled her eyes behind her mother's back. She helped her mom into a wheelchair. "Hey, Rory, can you get the lamp?" Rory walked over to the side table and picked up the monkey lamp. "You brought the monkey lamp??" Luke snorted. "I can't believe you brought the monkey lamp!" "Hey," Lorelai said. "Don't be jealous of my fabulous lamp. It brought a home-y feeling into my room." Luke looked perplexed. "A lamp with dancing, wild monkeys makes you feel more comfortable?" "She's the woman who watches _Alias_ and is convinced that Irina is actually a man disguised as a woman who, had a sex change, therefore was actually a woman before she was a man," Rory said rapidly in one breath. Lorelai nodded. "She is. Look at the size of her biceps!" Luke gaped at the two. "I don't understand you two at all." Lorelai just beamed at him. "You're just jealous of our brain capacity." "Okay, I believe that for one of you guys," Luke said looking at Rory. "And I think she has enough brain power for the two of you together so..." Lorelai starting singing, hitting her casts like bongos. "I could while away the hours, conferring with the flowers, consulting with the rain! And my head I'd be a-scratchin', while my thoughts were busy hatchin', if I only had a brain....!!!!" "Why did God create ears?" Rory asked Luke. "Satan made him do it," Luke replied calmly. They both stared at Lorelai as she continued to sing. ".. my head all full of stuffin'.. if I only had a brain....!!" ************************** "One good thing about having two broken legs is that I get to ride a wheelchair!" Lorelai whispered to Rory as she waved goodbye to the nurses. "How is that good?" Rory asked. "Because, now, Luke has no excuse for not going where I go," Lorelai smiled. "Like the mall." "He hates the mall," Rory said. "I know!" Lorelai giggled. "You are so evil," Rory shook her head. "But in a charming way, right?" Lorelai said, twisting around in the chair to look at her daughter. "Like Elvira?" "Elvira...?" Rory cocked her head. "Ohhh, the lady who put the boob back in boob tube?" "Okay, bosomy if not loveable and charming," Lorelai said. "I'd take either." Rory rolled her eyes but smiled. "Maybe you should go for slightly bosomy?" Lorelai pretended to look shocked. "UH! Insults already! You should make up for that by giving me a nice, warm cup of coffee.. MMmmm." Rory laughed. "Good try, Mom. You just started this conversation so you could bring coffee into it." Rory shook her finger at Lorelai. "Nooo..," Lorelai pretended to look surprised. "I would never..." She put hand to her heart. "No, never." ************************** Luke smiled as Lorelai and Rory bantered as they walked to his truck. After putting Lorelai in the front seat, Rory closed the door and whispered in Luke's ear, "They said they'd have everything set up by noon." Luke smiled and nodded. "Let's go." ************************** Sookie clapped her hands and said, "Well, now all that's left is Lorelai." She had just added the finishing touches to the menu and the decorations all seemed to be in place. She walked over to where Jackson was sitting with Kiki. "Hello, baby!" She said and took the smiling baby from her husband. Patty and Babette sat together on the other side of Sookie's living room and scoped the males in the room. "Too bad Luke's with Lorelai," Babette sighed. "I enjoyed watching him flip those burgers and..." Patty suddenly pointed to a guy standing in the corner of the room. "My God, who is he?" Babette stopped rambling about Luke and looked to where Patty was pointing. "Goodness, how could we have missed _him_?" Patty was practically drooling and Babette seemed ready to start. Babette was still rambling, but this time about the new guy. "I feel like when Jane Fonda and Ted Turner broke up.. Jane found God and Ted found out that it wasn't him..." Patty looked confused but decided to ignore the comment. "Let's go talk to that new guy." "Uh oh," Sookie said bouncing Kiki on her knee. "Looks like Patty and Babette are going to attack the handyman." "Should we save him?" Jackson said looking worried. "He still needs to fix the radiator." Sookie looked thoughtful. "Well, with Patty and Babette around, I'm sure he'll work faster." "That is true," Jackson replied. ************************** "Hey!" Rory said as they started to drive out of the parking lot. "Did you see that?" Luke and Lorelai looked in the rearview mirror at Rory. "What?" Lorelai asked. "I think I saw.. the hospital just breath a sigh of relief!" Rory said laughing. "Rory," Lorelai said in a stern voice. "You can tell me, where have you been getting your hit of pot?" "Oh, darn! I should never have stolen from your stash!" Rory replied in a dramatic tone. "NOoo," Lorelai replied with just as much drama. "Will you two stop it!" Luke said. "Enough with the drugs." "I think the Luke the drug dealer is mad at us," Lorelai loudly whispered to Rory. "We should be careful 'cause otherwise we'll have to start getting out stuff from Kirk," Rory whispered back. "Kirk is one sexy mofo," Lorelai said. "This is getting scary," Luke interrupted manuvered the truck onto the highway. "He is sexy," Rory said agreeing. "God help me," Luke grumbled. "Do you think he has a chest of hair shaped as a heart?" Lorelai asked Rory. "Maybe a star?" "With little braids?" "Dyed pink?" "Stop!" Luke said, trying to get the picture out of his head. "A dirty mind is better than no mind at all," Lorelai said to Luke. Rory nodded in agreement 'Trust me, in my case, having no mind would make life a lot more comfortable,' Luke thought looking into her eyes. Lorelai broke the connection by turning her eyes away. 'What is he thinking?' "Um, so is it heart or star shaped?" Rory asked breaking the silence. **************************** As they were pulling into the exit for Star's Hollow, Rory's cell rang. "Hello?" Rory said. "Rory, it's me, Sookie," Sookie whispered. "Sookie, you don't have to whisper," Rory said, furtively looking at her mother. Lorelai was currently distracted by a 'piece of lint' in Luke's hair. "Right there!" Lorelai said and starting dusting his head off. "Stop that!" Luke said, trying to concentrate on the road. But it was hard with Lorelai's hands in his hair. "But you have a piece of lint!" "Leave it!" "Mom! It's Sookie," Rory interrupted them as she rolled her eyes. 'Just tell each other you love each other already,' She thought. Lorelai took the phone. "Sookie! Hi!" "Hey, Lorelai!" "What's up?" Lorelai asked, her hand still on Luke's head. "UMmm.. not much, but the weather here has been so Anne Heche," Sookie said, looking at the guests who were starting to hide. "Huh?" "You know, the sun's all like 'I'm in! I'm out! I'm in! I'm out!'" Sookie replied, motioning for Patty to hide somewhere else besides next to the radiator. Lorelai laughed. "Did you call to tell me that? I'm almost at home now. We're just passing Luke's." Sookie smiled. "Nah, actually I called 'cause I was wondering if you could stop by my house and pick up some of Rory's things? She.. uh left them here." "I'm kinda tired," Lorelai replied. "I'll send Rory over later." "No, no," Sookie said. "Just drop by, for a sec." Lorelai smiled as a light in her head went off. "Okay. Talk to you in a few." Lorelai hung up the phone and handed it to Rory. "You guys planned a party for me!!" Lorelai said laughing. "'The weather here has ben so Anne Heche,'" Lorelai imitated her friend. She laughed. "No," Rory said sternly. "There is no party." "Yeah, and I'm not half as bosomy as Elvira," Lorelai said rolling her eyes. Luke looked at her. "I won't even ask." ***************************** Oh where oh where has jess gone? Oh where oh where can he beeeeee????? Hehe he's coming... soon ... =) -Ggirl Okay, quite honestly, I sorta forgot about him and Paris and Tristan for a while there... 


	21. Can you hear what I hear

Aww.. thanx for the comments guys! -Ggirl ************************** "Look at Patty and Babette," Sookie whispered to Lorelai. Lorelai giggled. "That poor handyman. Look how he's sweating and struggling to fix that radiator as fast as possible." "They haven't left that area since they discovered him," Sookie said shaking her head. After staring at Patty and Babette attempt to lure the young man into their grasps for a couple more moments, Lorelai turned around to find Luke. Since they had arrived at the party and Lorelai had feigned her best, "Oh, my gosh, I never expected this!" act, she hadn't seen him. "Hey," Jackson said, coming up to Sookie and Lorelai with Kiki. "Uh.. I think Kiki needs you right now." Sookie smiled as she took her daughter in her arms. "You can say the word breast-feeding you know." "Say it!" Lorelai called out. Jackson blushed. "Maybe later," Jackson mumbled and walked away to find more manly things to do, like play the harmonica for his cranberries. "I'll be back," Sookie called over her shoulder and started towards the kitchen with Kiki. Lorelai finally spotted Luke in the corner of the room, watching the party with a cold beer in his hand. She rolled over to him. "Hi." "Hi," He said and set the bottle down next to him. "How's it going?" "Good," Lorelai smiled. "I already ate like 4 pieces of cake." Luke smiled. "That could kill you," He said in a pseudo-cheery voice. "Hey," Lorelai said. "You want to go on a walk?" "Right now?" Luke raised his eyebrows. "This is your party, you know. See that sign? It says 'Welcome Home, Lorelai'." Lorelai smiled. "I know, but let's go on a walk." "You also, can't _walk_." "Yeah, actually, I just wanted you to walk and push me...," She smiled sweetly. Luke snorted but started to get up. "Let's go." **************************** _Flashback to when Lorelai was still in the hospital about a week ago.. She is talking to Dr. Johnson. "Hi," Dr. Johnson flashed her a smile as he entered the room. "Nice to see you outside of the ICU." "Yeah, they call me that at home too," Lorelai replied. Dr. Johnson gave her a confused look. "Uh.. never mind," Lorelai said quickly. Dr. Johnson picked her chart and started to read. "Looks like you can go home in about 5 days. Considering that you only woke up about 2 days ago, you look great. Your blood pressure's normal, your CATscan came out okay, your X-rays show that your shoulder's healing fine. And as for your legs..." He trailed off as he looked at her two legs in casts. "Well, they should come off in about 5-6 weeks." Lorelai groaned. "That's a long time." "Yeah," Dr. Johnson smiled at her. "They'll heal pretty quickly." He closed the binder and placed it back on the side table. He suspiciously eyed the monkey lamp. "So, you said you wanted to ask me something?" "Yeah...," Lorelai said and bit her lip. "I hope this doesn't sound silly... but you know when people are in comas, can they hear things?" "Up to some level, yes," Dr. Johnson said, wondering what she was leading up to. "Most patients have 'dreams', or what they think are dreams. A lot of the time, they are hearing what is actually happening." "So, it's possible for a patient to hear stuff?" "Yes, it's possible for patients to hear 'stuff'," Dr. Johnson replied smiling. "Hm..," Lorelai looked thoughtful. "Thanks, Doc." Dr. Johnson smiled at her. "No problem. I'll see you later then." "K, bye!" Lorelai grinned. "And Lorelai?" "Yes?" "Please stop bribing the nurses for coffee," Dr. Johnson said in a serious voice. Lorelai tried to look shocked. "Bribing, me? No!" She gasped and put a hand to her heart. "Drugs, yes, bribing, no." Dr. Johnson chuckled. "Okay. Bye now." Lorelai waved. She flicked on the television but didn't really watch. 'A lot of the time, they are hearing what is actually happening.' If this was true.... then she could swear that she heard Luke say that he loved her...._ ***************************** "Hey," Rory said and sat down. "What are you reading?" While Lorelai was in the hospital, Luke had asked Jess to come down a couple times to look after the diner. It was the weekend and Jess was supposed to return to school on Monday. "Catch-22," Rory read out loud. "Good book. You're probably the only person to read at a party.." Rory looked around her at the party going on. Jess had somehow situated him on one of comfy chairs and had started reading. "Yeah," Jess replied and brought his gaze back to his book. He hadn't told her that he had come to visit her at Harvard. He wondered if Paris had told her. It seemed like a bad time to try to win her back. After all, Lorelai had been in a coma in the hospital. 'Yeah, hi, Rory, I know you're mom's probably on the brink of death, but I was just wondering, have you ever thought about our getting back together? Oh, you haven't? How strange!' "So...," Rory said. "Yeah?" Jess looked up from his book. "Do you have something to say?" Rory was taken back. "Uh.. no. Sorry, I'm going now." She got up and started to walk away. "Hey!" Jess put his book down next to him. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that," He said sheepishly. "It's okay," Rory said, shuffling her feet. "So.. I just wanted to say, you know, that last time we were here? I'm sorry about..." "No, it's not your fault," Jess replied. "So, we're okay now?" "Yeah, we're good." "K, well, see you later then," Rory said awkwardly and started to walk away. 'Well, that went well.' Seeing that there was really nothing more for her to do at the party, Rory grabbed her jacket and decided to walk home. *************************** 'Tristan,' She thought as she walked through the darkened streets. 'I haven't even thought about him in.. weeks.' She had been been rushing back and forth between Harvard and Star's Hollow and the hospital for almost three weeks now, and she really hadn't had time to think about what he had said weeks ago. She wondered if she liked him.. that way. More than a friend? She had kissed him, after all. Several times, actually. But, deep inside, she was afraid that it was mere jealousy. Could it be that her seeing Paris and Tristan together and hearing him talk about love and romance that had touched her and tricked her into thinking she liked him. She was confused. Rory sighed and sat down on the porch steps of her house. She watched a dark figure walk down the street. He (or she) was slowly approaching her house. Rory squinted, trying to make the figure out. "Dean?" *************************** "So," Luke said as they sat together on the grassy center of town. Lorelai scratched her leg where the cast ended. "This cast is do damn itchy," She pouted. Luke looked at her doubtfully. "You brought me out here to say that?" "Yes.. no," She said. He scrunched his face. "Okay." "Actually....," Lorelai took a deep breath. "Well, I was just wondering, you know.. about what we were talking about before all this happened?" "How you are eating too much red meat and it could kill you?" "No," Lorelai replied, surprised that for once Luke was the one making the jokes. 'I love you.' He had said that to her. She was sure of it now. "I was thinking.. maybe we could have dinner one of these days..." Luke's mouth slowly stretched into a smile. "Yeah, that'd be nice." *************************** "Well," Patty said to Babette as they watched the terrorized handyman quickly leave. Babette shrugged. "Maybe he's embarrassed to tell us he wears briefs and not boxers?" Patty shrugged. "I don't know." Babette's face lit up. "Let's go ask Lorelai about that cute doctor." "Good idea!" Patty replied. They both went in search for Lorelai. "Have you seen Lorelai?" Patty asked Kirk. Kirk shook his head and turned his attention back to the poor young lady standing nervously next to him, wondering how she could tactfully evade him. "Have you seen Lorelai?" Babette asked Morey. Morey shrugged. "I can't find her," Patty said to Babette a couple minutes later. "Have you seen Luke?" Babette scanned the room. "No." Patty's face broke into a big smile. "So the two are missing..." Babette giggled. ************************** Hehe hope you liked that.. =) -Ggirl 


	22. Mwah Mwah and Marlon Brando

"So," Dean said and sat down. "How's it going?" "Okay, I guess," Rory replied looking up at the sky. "College is okay?" He asked. "Yup, you?" Rory wondered what he was doing here with her. "Good.. so.. uh, you got back with Jess, huh?" Dean replied. "What?" Rory turned to look at him. "Jess?" "Yeah, aren't you two back together or somethign?" Dean looked back at her. "Uh... no," Rory replied, confused. "Why would you think that?" 'Cause I saw you in Boston.' "Umm.. I don't know. I just assumed when you two were on the bridge...," Dean started. "We're... friends," Rory replied. 'Jess and me back together?' She hadn't even thought about it, not even when Jess had told her that he still..... "Oh," Dean interrupted her thoughts. He stood up. "Well, nice to see you." He started to walk away. "Hey!" Rory called out as she started to get back up. "Hey, Dean." "Yeah?" He turned back around. "We can still be friends, right?" Dean smiled slightly. "I guess." Rory's face fell. "Okay." 'Well, after how we broke up last year at the marathon...' ******************************** Jess sighed and put his book down again. 'That's not how I imagined my talking to Rory,' He thought. He got up from the chair and grabbed his jacket. ******************************** "Well, then I'll.. uh.. see you around," Dean mumbled. "See you." He waved at her and started to walk down the porch steps. Rory nodded slowly and waved back. "Bye..." ******************************** Jess stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked at his feet as he walked down the street to Rory's house. As he approached the house, he saw a dark figure leaving the porch where he could see Rory sitting. As Jess got nearer to the house, he could see by the dim light of the streetlamp that it was... 'Dean.' ******************************** "That was fun!" Lorelai said as Luke pushed her up the street to her house. Luke grumbled. "Fun for you." "HA! Got you to say the F-word! Hey, I know you were having fun when we were going down that really steep hill. I heard you whispering 'wheeee' under your breath," Lorelai turned her head to look at him. "How could you possibly hear that with you screaming your head off?" "I was not screaming! I was simply voicing my expression of joy," Lorelai pouted. "So.. you were screaming," Luke replied. "You're impossible," Lorelai said. "You're lucky I'm not _really_ Elvira." Luke looked at her with a confused look on his face. "I won't ask." He pushed the wheelchair up to the porch steps. "Uh oh," Lorelai said. "I forgot that there's stairs everywhere.." She looked down at her casts. "Uh...." "You could always sleep outside," Luke said. "Mean," Lorelai pouted and crossed her arms. ".. I could set up a tent for you..." "There's only one way to do this...," said Lorelai, with a glint in her eye. "One way that doesn't involve me?" Luke asked, dreading what was coming up next. Lorelai looked at him. "Pleeeeassssssseeeeeee..." Luke rolled his eyes. "I'm gonna sing the please song!" Lorelai said. "Please, please, spaghetti with lots of cheese......!" "Okay, I'll do it!!!" Luke threw his hands in the air. "Just.. don't sing." Lorelai beamed. "Okay! Uppsy-daisy!" She called out and reached her arms to him. Luke frowned but reached down to pick her up. "OOOoh, Luke, your arms are soooooo strong.. you are sooooo strong," Lorelai said in a high pitched voice. She stroked his arm. "Stop that," Luke said in a serious tone. 'Okay, concentrate on the steps, don't concentrate on the fact that your hand is on her butt...' Lorelai giggled at his discomfort. "Aren't you happy I'm not like horizontally challenged? Like to the point where you need two seats on the airplane.. and you ask for two seats, and then the airplane lady's like, here are two seats, but they're not together?" Luke looked at her. "You're weird." "You know what's weird?" Lorelai said thoughtfully as Luke struggled to get the door open. "What?" "You know Marcie from Charlie Brown?" "Yeah." Luke put her down on the sofa. "Do you think she's a lesbian? Because, if she is, I wish she'd just come out and say it. Because I'm confused about it... is she or isn't she? I think she's in love with Peppermint Patty..," Lorelai rambled. "You're starting to sound like their teacher," Luke grumbled. Lorelai laughed. "Ohh.. Mwah, mwah, mwah..." "Stop," He said. "Mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah!" "Okay, getting irritating," Luke stared at her with his hands on his hips. "Mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah!!" Luke sighed. "What?" "I have to pee...," Lorelai said and looked at him with puppy-dog eyes. "Oh no....." Luke's eyes opened widely and he shook his head. "PLeeeeeeeeeassssssseeeee!!!" 'Why, God, why??' Luke thought. *********************************** Rory closed her eyes and tried to sleep. But the sounds of Lorelai and Luke flirting in the living room were distracting her. 'Mom's so lucky she knows who she wants..,' She thought sighing. Rory was just plain confused. Tristan... Jess... when Jess had told her he still... no, he thought that he loved her.. She had been taken back. Sure, the word had come up a couple times while they were going out, but they had never really _said_ it to each other. When Dean and she had gone out, she had said that she loved Dean, but in fact, she hadn't. Rory had use the word loosely.. and She'd been careful not to say it while she and Jess were going out... 'Tristan.' She really didn't know about him.. He had gotten nicer, but deep inside, she felt like he wasn't the one for her. They were too different.. they had fun, but she didn't feel a connection when she was with him. And all this guilt that she felt for breaking Paris and Tristan up, she didn't think that she could handle all of it. 'So,' She thought. Rory rolled over and pulled the covers tightly around her. She groaned as she heard strains of the please song. ********************************** "Hey," Lorelai said as Luke gently set her down on the sofa for the second time. "Yeah?" "Thanks..," Lorelai said. "I'm traumatized, but you're welcome," Luke sighed. "Okay, I was just peeing.. and plus you turned around ANYWAYS!" Lorelai said. "Whatever, I'm still traumatized for life," Luke replied simply. "I gotta go back now. I have to wake up really early tomorrow." Lorelai pouted. "Don't go yet..." Luke sighed. "I have to..." Lorelai patted the seat next to her. "Sit for a while." Sighing, Luke gave in and sat down. "Wow, you gave in pretty easily this time. Maybe we should try again..," Lorelai said, looking at her. Luke rolled his eyes. "Okay, can I go now?" "OOooh, you had that all planned out didn't you? You thought if you just gave in, then you could walk away!" Lorelai said, giving him an accusing glance. "OOOh, Lukey, that was smart, but you're not getting away that easily, buster..." "Oh, please," Luke said and put his finger on her lips. "You're starting to sound like the teacher again." "Mwah, mwah, mwah...," Lorelai started. She interrupted by Luke's lips brushing against hers. *********************************** When Luke woke up, Lorelai's head was in his lap. Luke stretched his stiff arms. He groaned. 'Sleeping while sitting on a sofa is the worst...,' He thought and tried to move, but Lorelai was not waking up. 'But it's not so bad...,' He thought smiling down at Lorelai's sleeping form. After a round of Godfather movies, Lorelai had fallen asleep. He, on the other hand, had spent an hour watching her sleep, before dozing off too. It was rather nice waking up with her, even if he could no longer feel his legs. *********************************** When Luke walked up to the diner at seven am, there was already a crowd of cantankerous diners awaiting on his doorstep. "Sorry," He mumbled and looked for his keys. "Damn!" He said and hit himself on the forehead. "I left them at Lore-..." He saw Patty and Babette smiling at him. "No, no, that's now what happened...," Luke started. "I knew it!" Babette giggled. Patty grinned at him. "You work fast, Luke.... very smooth. She's one day out of the hospital and already you two are.." "No!" Luke yelled. But he knew that no matter how he tried to tell them that wasn't what happened, it would soon be all over town that Luke and Lorelai were getting married or having their 7th child by the end of the day. *********************************** "Mom," Rory gently shook her mom awake. Lorelai groaned and tried to roll over but her casts prevented her from doing so. "Mom?" Rory attempted to wake her up again. Lorelai hit Rory's hand away. "MOM!! Brad Pitt just took off his pants and..!" Lorelai bolted awake. "Where!?" She looked up to find Rory smiling smugly at her. "Mean," Lorelai said and pouted. "Hi," Rory said. "Oh, Rory..I totally forgot.. I wanted to talk to you about something...," Lorelai said. "Okay," Rory looked puzzled. "But first, I need coffee," Lorelai said and rubbed her temples. "K, I'll make some," Rory said. "From Luke's, please," Lorelai replied. 'Where is Luke anyways?' She didn't remember anything from the night before, except that she had watched a lot of Marlon Brando. "Okay, I'll go pick up some," Rory said and grabbed her jacket. ************************************ "Rory, honey!" Rory looked at Patty as she entered the diner. "Hi, Patty." "Rory, were you home last night when your mom and Luke...." "HI, RORY!" Luke suddenly called out and came from around the counter to rescue her from Patty. "What do you need?" Rory looked at him, confused by his loud tone, and looked back at Patty. "My mom and Luke...?" Patty smiled slyly. "Well, it turns out that they..." "You want coffee?" Luke interrupted. "Huh?" Rory looked at him. "Oh, yeah, two cups to go." "To go??" Luke said. "Great! To go is great. _Going_ is an awesome thing to do right now.." Rory looked at him, perplexed. "Okay..." Luke hurriedly handed her two cups and ushered her out of the diner. "Bye!" He waved and practically pushed her out onto the sidewalk. Rory looked dazed as she stood on the sidewalk. Shrugging, she started to walk away when she saw a face in the window upstairs. 'Jess...' *********************************** Jess tried to hide behind the curtains but he knew that Rory had seen him. 'Rory,' He had planned to say that night at Harvard. 'I know we're not really near each other ... but I want to try this out...' He shook his head. 'Dean? Was Dean the other guy?' 


	23. bugs, eye poking, and boredom

"Kay.. I'm back!!!" Rory slammed the door shut with her foot and walked into the living room. "What are you doing?" Lorelai smiled up at her from the sofa. "I got bored." "Mom!" Rory set the precious cups of coffee down and sat down next to her mom. "MOM! I don't want tassels on my Harvard sweatshirt!" Lorelai giggled. "You'll be the most fashionable girl on campus!" Rory pouted. "Mom, I'm going to have to do something really evil right about now..." She lunged for the coffee. "NOOOO!!" Lorelai cried and dropped the tassel. "I'll take it off! I'll take it off!" "AH-HA!" Rory said and giggled. She handed Lorelai the cup. "There you go, my pretty." She cackled. "Wow, you are evil," Lorelai said looking at her daughter. She turned back to her coffee and happily sipped the warm drink. "So, what's up?" Rory said, putting her feet up on the coffee table. "MMmmmm," Lorelai murmured as she sipped her drink. "Mom, let's concentrate here!" "Huh?" Lorelai looked up. "Oh, hi, Rory." Rory rolled her eyes. "MOmmmmmmmm!" Lorelai giggled. "Okay," Lorelai said and took one final sip. "I'm gonna go into 'mom' mode, okay?" Rory nodded. "Okay." "Honey.. I know you're worried about me.. and maybe that's why you've been hanging out here so often.. but you really need to go back to school now. I don't want you failing your classes." Rory lookd at her mom. "Back to school?" "Yes, Rory. You've been down here for.. what? Three weeks? That's a lot of classes to miss," Lorelai bit her lip. "I've been worried that you're not keeping up.. although, you've always been so responsible and good at that." "Don't worry, Mom, I have everything under control. Plus, you're what's more important right now," Rory replied. "Baby, you know I have Luke and Sookie and.. many people who can help me out. I'm not kicking you out," Lorelai said. "But I want you to go back to school and be a Harvard girl.." Rory sighed. "How are you gonna eat?" "Luke and Sookie will help me," Lorelai put a hand on Rory's arm. "Don't worry. Go to school, study and be a student and a partyer and flirt with guys..." Rory laughed weakly. "Are you sure?" "Are you hesitating only on my account?" Rory thought about this. 'Am I?' Okay, so maybe she was staying there because she didn't want to confront Tristan.. and seeing Jess again.. and well, after Lorelai's accident, she had realized how much more her mom meant to her. Being so far from her a lot of the time was didficult for her. "I don't.. know," Rory replied with difficulty. "Rory?" Lorelai looked at her daughter quizzically. "Maybe..." "This is Harvard we're talking about," Lorelai interrupted, staring at her daughter. "Harvard. And you are the Harvard girl with the tassels." ".. I should transfer to Yale," Rory blurted. "No," Lorelai said. "Are you sure about this?" "I.. I don't know," Rory said weakly. "I miss you and I miss Star's Hollow.. and well, Harvard is great, but Yale is great too. And Yale is nearer to you." Lorelai hugged her daughter. "Hon, you know I trust you. You think it out, okay?" Rory hugged her mom tightly. "Okay.." "Just think about it.. _at_ Harvard. You stop worrying about me and go get smart!" Lorelai smiled at her. Rory smiled back. "K. I should go pack." "Yeah," Lorelai replied. She sighed. "Okay, well 'mom' mode is now off!" She yelled. **************************** Later that day, Lorelai and Luke saw Rory off. "I'll call you later, mom," Rory said and kissed her mom on the cheek. "Okay, Ror," Lorelai smiled and waved as her daughter got on the bus. "I'll miss you!" "Missing you already!" Rory said and got onto the bus. She waved to them. Luke and Lorelai watched as Rory took a seat in the back. Rory pulled down a window. "Hey, Luke!" "Yeah?" Luke answered. "Take good care of her for me!" Rory said. "Sure," He replied with a smile. He put a hand on Lorelai's wheelchair. "Will do." "Thanks, Luke." They watched as the bus pulled away. **************************** _A couple days later...._ At the diner, Luke grabbed the ringing phone. "Hello?" "LUKE!" "Ah!" Luke pulled the phone away from his ears. "Hi. Thanks for destroying my hearing." "LUKE! There's a bug!" "What? I can't hear you, because someone ruined my hearing." "LUkeeeeee," Lorelai whined. "There's a bugggg!" Luke sighed. "Okay, so what do you want me to do?" "Help me! Kill the bug!" "I'm busy right now," He said. "PLeasseeeeeee!" Luke sighed again and threw the dishcloth onto the counter. "Okay, fine, I'll be there in 2 minutes." He hung up the phone and called out to Caesar, "I'll be back in 10 minutes!" Patty looked at him as he left. "I think Lorelai called him." Babette looked at Luke's retreating figure. "Why do you think she called?" Patty smirked. "Why do you think?" Babette thought about it. "She found a bug?" Patty shook her head. ".. only if she found it on her naked body." (A/N: okay, sorry! so that was rather dirty.. maybe I should change the rating now....) ****************************** Luke burst through the front door. "Okay, so where is it?" Lorelai pointed to the coffee table. "Right there." Luke stared at the table. "There's nothing there." "Right there!" She pointed to the fireplace. "Is there a bug or not?" Luke asked, exasperated. "Umm.. yes," Lorelai said quickly. She spotted movement on the curtains. "AH-ha! Right there!" She pointed to the curtains. Luke walked over to the window. "It's a ladybug." "Yes," Lorelai said, squinting. "Kill it!" "They're harmless." "It's a bug!" "It's not even _moving_." "Yes it is." "No it's not." "Well, it was before," Lorelai said and pouted. "It was waving its arms and saying 'Kill me! Kill me!'" "You're strange," Luke commented, looking at her. ".. and you love me!" Lorelai sang. She suddenly realized what she said. "What?" "I mean," Lorelai stuttered. ".. that's what you love _about_ me!" 'Oh my God.' She got off on a tangent. 'What was it that John Mayer kid said again?... my stupid mouth?' "Oh, okay," Luke replied. 'Could she.. possibly know?' "So.. uh.. are you gonna kill it?" ****************************** _A couple hours later..._ Luke grabbed the ringing phone. "Hi, this is Luke." "Hi, this is Lorelai." "Stop calling me," Luke said sternly as he poured a customer a cup of coffee. "I'm bored to death!" "So call someone else," He grumbled. "But you're so fun!" Lorelai said. "This cast has inhibited my life. I have no life, except to stare at my cast and call you!" "Yay," Luke said half-heartedly. "Don't worry. Once the cast is off, I fully intend to resume my normal activities..," Lorelai replied. "You mean, bothering me while you're here, not there?" "Hey, mister, consider yourself lucky! You're just lucky that I'm here and you're there! And... that I have a cast and you don't!" Lorelai said. "Yes," Luke replied as he grabbed a sandwich and placed it in front of a man. "God has asked to take my place for a day." "You be quiet, mister! If I could walk, I'd come over there and perform some strange violent act..." "..Uh..." "Like...," Lorelai tried to think of something. "Like.. poking you in the eye!" "Huh." "Or.. or.. poking you in the other eye!!!" "Look, I'll come over at six, okay?" "You're an angel, Luke!" Lorelai sang happily. "You've got wings, baby!" "Bye," He said. "Flying high, like an eagle! Flap those wings..." "BYE!" Luke said and hung up. "Lorelai giving you a booty call?" Patty winked. "WHAT???" 


	24. I made you a hat and it's soooo prettttt...

Awww you guys are so sweet heheh thanx for the reviews.. and now.. on with the eye poking! -Ggirl ************************* Luke knocked on the front door, while struggling to juggle the bags of food he held. "Come in!" He pushed open the door and walked in. "Hi," Lorelai said and looked up from painting her toenails. "What is this?" Luke looked around at all the clothes strewn across the living room. The stereo was blaring "I Don't Know How to Say Goodbye to You" and ribbons and tassels covered every inch of the couch where she sat. "Hi, Martha," Luke said sarcastically and set the bags. "I understand that an explosion at the tassel factory has caused your house to look like a decorator's nightmare, but you should really call in the fashion police. _SOON._." "Hey, I like Martha Stewart," Lorelai pouted and put the nail polish away. "Oh! Oh!" She dug under the ribbons and produced a red cap covered with ribbons. Luke looked the cap with widened eyes. "Oh no...." He shook his head violently. "No, no, no, no.." Lorelai gave him puppy eyes. "Not even once?" "No," Luke said firmly. "I'm gonna go home now...." "No!" Lorelai said, almost desperately. He smiled. "All right, now that we understand each other...." She waved the hat under his nose. "Okay, now that one of us understands that the other is completely insane," He revised his sentence. "What do you want to do?" "Movie?" Lorelai asked. Luke frowned. "We've been doing that for the last couple of days..." Lorelai sighed. "I have nothing to do. I am _so_ bored." Luke smiled slightly and gently touched her arm. "Hey, I know you're bored, but don't worry, in a couple of weeks, you'll be out of this cast." Lorelai smiled at him. "Hey, you're a cool guy, Luke." She wrapped her arms around him. Luke sighed with contentment and hugged her back. They sat like that for a couple minutes, with their arms wrapped around each other. Lorelai spoke up. "So.. does this mean you're gonna wear the cap?" ********************************* Since she had arrived back at school, Rory had rarely had a chance to sit down. Missing three weeks of school was no joking manner and she had been running around taking tests and handing in assignments for, what seemed like, forever. Sighing, she flopped down on one of the benches in the Green with her backpack, which was bursting at the seams. The air was chilly now and she shivered. "Cold?" The familiar voice caught her attention. "Tristan..." He looked down at her with an indifferent expression on his face. "You're back?" "Yeah," Rory answered, looking down at her hands. "Why didn't you call me?" Tristan furrowed his brow. "I.. uh.. I've been busy," Rory replied. "Making up work and stuff." Tristan sighed and sat down next to her. "Your mom okay?" "Yeah," Rory answered. "Thanks." Silence fell between them and they sat in an uncomfortable quiet. "Look," Tristan suddenly said. She looked at him. "I know you're busy and all.. but I need to know about.. us." Rory sighed deeply. "I'm sorry," She said. "I.. haven't really thought it about it much these days. I've been.. busy." 'So, we're not important to you,' he thought, shaking his head. "Heh," He managed to say. Tristan got up from the bench. "Well, it was always that way, wasn't it?" "Hey," Rory said frowning. "That's not fair." "No, Rory," Tristan said. "You're the one being not fair." He unraveled his scarf from his neck and wrapped it around hers. "I like you, but you can't keep dragging me on like this." With a sad look in his eyes, he left her sitting in the cold. ********************************* "You warm enough?" Luke asked gruffly. "Yup," Lorelai said. She twisted around in her wheelchair and looked up at Luke. "It looks good on you." "I can't believe I'm wearing this," Luke grumbled. "We're going home now." He started to turn the wheelchair around. "No!" Lorelai said. "We didn't get videos yet!" Luke frowned. "Please...," He pleaded. "I will forever be the butt of the jokes." Lorelai giggled. "Okay..." Luke sighed in relief and took the cap off his head. Smiling, he placed it on Lorelai's head. "Looks better on you," He said as he bent over to look at her. "Hey," Lorelai said, her eyes shielded by the cap. "Um..." "Yeah?" "I was just, you know, wondering..." "No, I don't think Marcie is in love with Peppermint Patty," Luke answered. "No, just.. about .. us," Lorelai said slowly. Luke stopped. "Oh." "Are we... an..." "An.. 'us'?" He finished her sentence. Luke walked to the front of the wheelchair and kneeled next to it so he could see eye to eye with Lorelai. She turned her eyes away from his intense gaze. "Hey," He said and brushed her cheek with his fingers. "I don't know about you, but..." "I'd like to be an 'us'..," He said. Lorelai looked back at him. She smiled. Luke stood up and kissed her lightly. "Oooh, PDA," Lorelai giggled next to his ear. "We must be a serious 'us'." Luke smiled into her hair. ********************************** "Hi," Rory said. Tristan looked down at her from the open doorway. "Hi." "I.. um.. thought we should talk," Rory said shuffling her shoes. "K, let me just get my jacket," Tristan said and turned around. "You can come in if you want." "No thanks," Rory said and she just stood in the hallway. "Rory, I'm not gonna jump you," Tristan said frowning. "I know, just get your jacket." Tristan pursed his lips and walked to his closet. "Okay, let's go." *********************************** At the pizza parlor, Tristan and Rory found a quiet corner and sat down. "So," Tristan started. "What's up?" Rory sighed and fidgeted with her hands. "I know that when I was here, I told you that I might like you. That time we kissed?" "Oh, yeah, that may have passed my mind a couple times for the past few weeks," Tristan joked. Rory frowned. "I'm trying to be serious here." "Sorry," Tristan replied. "Look, let's get pizza first, okay?" *********************************** Paris sighed and put her history text down. Her eyes were watery from reading for so long and her body ached. She heard her stomach grumble. Next to her, Linda was gently snoring. Paris shook her friend awake. "Hey, let's go eat something," Paris said. Linda stood up to stretch and said, "K, let's go." *********************************** The two girls walked into the pizza parlor and sat down at a booth. "Hey," Linda said and cocked her head towards the left side of the room. "Isn't that Rory?" Paris looked at the two sitting at a booth. 'So they're back together.' She sighed. 'Rory told me she was too busy for a relationships...' "Wait... isn't that blonde guy..," Linda started, but stopped when she saw the pained look in her friend's eyes. "..Paul Walker?" Linda pointed to a random blonde guy in the room. Paris shook her head. "I'll get the pizza." She stood up and started to walk towards the counter. *********************************** "Paris." Paris looked up from the menu and found herself looking into Tristan's huge, clear eyes. "Uh.. hi...," she stammered. She turned back to the menu. "How are you?" "Good," She answered. 'Pepperoni and mushroom? Onions?.. Tristan??' "You're not gonna ask how I am?" Tristan joked. "Um, how are you?" Paris said. "Good," Tristan answered. "Thanks for asking." Paris nodded and gave the man at the counter her order. "Well, see you around. Tell Rory I said I'll see her later," Paris said and walked away. *********************************** Rory watched on as Tristan gobbled down three slices. "Eat," He instructed. She shook her head. "Can we talk now?" Tristan nodded. "K." "Tristan, you're a nice guy and everything but... I don't think this is gonna work," Rory said rapidly. Tristan swallowed the pizza he had been chewing, hard. "What?" This wasn't what he had been expecting. The indifference, the cold shoulder... oh, it was so obvious now! He had thought it was all because she was tired, too busy.. how could he have been so blind? "Just like that huh?" He asked, angry now. "You think you could drag me on for all this time and then tell me that everything that happened was nothing to you?" She sighed. "I'm.. when I was at home, I realized that everything that had happened to us.. well, I was stupid. I was acting stupid and I broke you and Paris up out of.. I don't know, jealousy? I was acting stupid." Tristan glared at her. "I can't believe this." Rory looked down at her empty paper plate. "I.. can't believe this." Tristan was furious now. "I think I might transfer." He looked at her in shock. "Transfer?" "Maybe." "Whatever," He said and put on his jacket. Rory sighed again. "I'm so sorry..." Tristan put down the pizza. "I'm sorry too. I'm sorry that I've been so blind." He got up and threw money on the table. "Bye." He left the restuarant. Rory put her face in her hands. "Well.. that went well." ************************************ Lorelai giggled as Luke squirted whipped cream into her mouth. "Wow, this could totally kill you." Luke frowned as he looked at the nutritional facts on the back of the can. "Nah," Lorelai said and swallowed. "There's like milk and all that other good stuff in it." "Sugar?" Luke raised an eyebrow. "Yup!" Lorelai replied cheerfully. He laughed and set the can down. "So, should we give Hannibal and Clarice our attention?" "Nah," Lorelai replied and reached for the can of whipped cream. Luke made a face as she squirted the cream onto a gummy worm and ate it. "I can't believe you're eating that." "Okay, and you tell me this while we watch 'Silence of the Lambs'?" Lorelai pointed to the screen. Luke smirked. "Ha! Can't think of a comeback, huh?" Lorelai smiled slyly. "Okay, I admit it." Luke got up and stretched. "Wheee!!" Lorelai cried out. "I win!" "Win what?" "You have to eat this now." Lorelai made another whipped cream-gummy worm combo. "Oh, no." Luke shook his head furiously. "I don't eat that junk." "Whipped cream is not junk." "To you." "It's like a staple food." "Again I repeat. To.. you." Luke put his hands on his hips. "I should really get going." He looked at his watch. "I have to get up early tomorrow." "Noooooo," Lorelai begged. "Don't go..." Luke smiled. "You know we go through this every night and every night I end up staying?" Lorelai beamed. "I know. So just sit down already, I want to see Hannibal eat some human." Luke made a face and sat down next to her. "You're sick." "Thank you," Lorelai said and snuggled next to him. She suddenly turned to look at him. "Whipped cream on carrot sticks?" She asked hopefully. Luke snorted. 


	25. Mmm cake

Lol.. Rory a brat.. hehe sorrie.. i didn't want her to come off as a brat.. but she _was_ mean to Bible boy. And the plot thickenss.. teehehe Javajunkie allllll the wayyyyyyyy!! Wheeeeeee (too much sugar cannot be good) -Ggirl ****************************** _A few weeks later..._ "Good morning," Lorelai said and looked down at Luke. After a few weeks sleeping sitting up with Lorelai on the couch, Luke had started to bring a sleeping bag. "Hi," Luke said and smiled. "You're up." "Well, it is ten AM," Lorelai said. "I need..." "Coffee?" Luke said with a smile on his lips. "It's brewing already." "You're a god," Lorelai said gratefully. "Today's the day!" She pointed to the casts on her legs. Luke smiled. "Finally!" "Ha! You know you enjoyed spending almost every waking minute with me thse past few weeks," Lorelai said and pouted. "I did," He said honestly. Lorelai smiled and leaned down to kiss him. "MMmmm," Luke said and brushed his lips against hers. "That just made it all worth it." Lorelai frowned. "Mean." Luke laughed. "Come on, let's get up." He helped her up into the wheelchair and rolled her into the kitchen. "Ugh, I'm gonna be so happy to walk again. I feel like an invalid," Lorelai frowned. "Don't worry, soon you'll be out of this cast," Luke said and pat her leg. Lorelai suddenly it up. "You know, I bet you Mariah Carey's agent said the same thing to her as she was filming the last scene for _Glitter_..." Luke looked at her strangely. "Thank God you will soon have more to do than sit around thinking about divas who....." "You said the word diva!" Lorelai interrupted and giggled. Luke rolled his eyes. "I heard it on the radio," Luke said. "Sure you did...," Lorelai said and beamed when she spotted the coffee pot. "Coffee!" "You have a one track mind," Luke said shaking his head. ****************************** Dr. Johnson smiled as he saw the happy couple enter the room. "What's up, Doc?" Lorelai said. He smiled. "Hello. Are you ready?" "Yes, I am," Lorelai said nodding. "But I don't know if Jim and Tim are ready yet." She pat her two casts. Luke sighed and rolled his eyes. "Just take 'em off. She's driving me crazy." "Hey! I am not, I was simply...," Lorelai said. "... calling me every minute of the day to tell me that the grass on her lawn has grown yet another micrometer," He said. "Mean!" Lorelai said and pouted. Dr. Johnson smiled at the bickering couple. ******************************* Within minutes, both casts were off and Lorelai could move her legs. "AHhhh!!" Lorelai said happily. "I can walk! I can walk!" Luke smiled and rolled his eyes. "Thank you, Dr. Johnson." "Good to see you again," Dr. Johnson said, cautiously watching the woman dance around the hospital room. Luke held back a laugh as Lorelai started to do dance movements to "Hit Me Baby, One More Time." "Thank you again." Luke said and shook the doctor's hand. "Good luck to you," The doctor called out as Luke dragged Lorelai out. ******************************* Lorelai was still dancing and singing as they pulled up in front of Luke's diner. "Sookieeee!" Lorelai called out as she spotted her best friend and Jackson standing in front of the diner. "Look!" She pointed to her cast-less legs. Sookie squealed and hugged her. "Let's have a 'I No Longer Have Casts' party!" "Party!" Lorelai giggled and jumped up and down. "These two have way too much energy," Jackson said to Luke. Luke nodded vigorously. "You're telling me. I had to spend hours with the one on the right." "God, man, I feel for you," Jackson said sympathetically. "I heard that!" Lorelai stopped dancing and gave them a pouty look. Sookie giggled. Lorelai turned back to Sookie. "Well, so let's have a party! How about eight o'clock at my house? It'll just be the four of us." Sookie nodded. "Sounds good." "Dinner and a movie?" "Yup." Sookie nodded. "I'll make the food." "No, I'll cook," Lorelai said with a serious look on her face. The three gaped at her. "Duh, I was joking," Lorelai said and rolled her eyes. "Thank God. As if we need more toxic waste in the world," Luke said. "Uhh, excuse me, Mr. Negative! But I've watched many many hours of Emeril in the past couple of weeks and have perfected my 'bam!'s and 'let's kick it up a notch's!" Lorelai looked at him witha stern expression on her face. Luke smiled. "Okay." "So, I"ll see you at eight then?" Lorelai turned to the couple. "K, I'll see you then!" Sookie called out as she dragged Jackson down the sidewalk. "We have to go to Doose's." Luke wrapped his arms around Lorelai's waist. "Wow, I can't believe you're cast-less." "Neither can I," Lorelai sighed and put her head on Luke's chest. "I can finally hug you properly now." "That's very important," Luke said and put his chin on top of Lorelai's head. "Look at those two," Patty said to Babette from across the street. "They are so cute!" "We've been right all these years," Babette said agreeing. "We're always right, Babette." "That's true," Babette said with a nod. ******************************** Rory sighed and flopped down on her bed. She groaned and struggled to take off her jacket. 'Yet another killer final.' She was going to be so happy to go home for Christmas break. Rory really missed Lorelai and Luke and.. everyone.. maybe even Taylor. 'Wait, okay, cross that.' Rory rolled over and popped in her Bangles CD. _"Close your eyes... give me your hand.."_ Rory groaned. _"Can you feel my heart beating? Do you understand? Do you feel the same?"_ After she had told Tristan that she didn't like him, that she had been playing with him.. she had felt guilty for weeks. In fact, she still felt guilty. Paris and Tristan were back together. She was happy for her friend, but she also couldn't help feeling a little weird about their getting together. It was like Paris would run to Tristan no matter what he did. But, well, this time, it had been all her fault. _"Or is this burning.. an eternal flame?"_ What was going on with her? Rory didn't understand her indecisiveness. It reminded her of when she was back in high school, trying to deny her feelings for Jess, pretending that she was still in love with Dean. She was doing it again, wasn't she? She had played with one guy, and held on to the other. What was she so scared of? _"Do you feel my heart beating? Do you understand? Do you feel the same? Am I only dreaming?"_ 'Jess...,' She thought, rolling over to lie on her stomach. She hadn't thought about Jess in weeks. His sly smile, which would slowly spread across his face. His love of books. How he understood her so well.... _"Or is this burning.. an eternal flame?"_ Well, Tristan was with Paris now, and honestly, Rory was happy for them. 'Paris will treat him a lot better than I did,' Rory thought. ******************************** Jess shuffled his feet as he stood in front of Rory's dorm room door. 'You're pathetic, Mariano,' He thought. After he had found Dean walking away from Rory's house, he'd run the other way. But he still loved her, no matter if she was with Bagboy or not. He had been confused about that. Why would they get back together? _"Close your eyes.. give me your hand..."_ When Jess heard the strains of the Bangles' "Eternal Flame" coming from the room, he smiled. 'The Bangles.' One of her favorite bands. Taking a deep breath, he lightly rapped on the door with his tightly closed fists. He heard footsteps walking towards the door. Jess considered getting on his knees. 'No! No! Too desperate,' He thought, quickly erasing the thought from his mind. 'What should I do with my hands? Is my hair okay? Did I remember to eat a mint....?' The door opened to reveal a tired looking Rory. SHe rubbed her eyes. "Jess?" ******************************** Lorelai laughed at Sookie's corny joke, along with the rest of the table. 'I like this,' She thought, looking at the three people around. The people she loved.. including Luke now. She put her hand over his. He smiled at her. Sookie smiled as the two looked at each other. "Look how cute they are," she whispered to Jackson. "I heard that," Lorelai said, pulling her gaze away from Luke's face. Sookie giggled. "You two are so cute." Luke looked uncomfortable and Lorelai laughed. "Luke's is embarrassed!" "I'm not," He muttered. "Am too!" "Am...," Luke caught himself. 'Wow, we sound like a married couple.. or a pair of seven year olds.' "Awww," Sookie said. "Arguing like a married couple already." It was Lorelai's turn to blush when she heard the m-word. 'Marriage?' Luke thought and looked at his girlfriend. 'We're just starting to date...' Lorelai looked at him. She seemed to be thinking the same thing. "Hey!" Lorelai interrupted his thoughts and broke the look they shared. She looked at Sookie and Jackson. "Let's watch a movie!" "What did you get?" Sookie asked. "'_Glitter_' and '_Summer Under the Sun_'," Lorelai said happily as she got up to clear the table. "_Summer Under the Sun_ sounds interesting," Jackson said. "Nooo," Luke said groaning. "Not Mary Kate and Ashley again!" Lorelai beamed. "I knew you'd be happy." Sookie rolled her eyes. "We need to find you new idols." Jackson just looked confused. "Who are they?" Lorelai feigned shock. "You don't know them? They are like these super actresses, who on the side have managed to build a merchandise empire by the age of eleven! Uh, huh, that's _who_ they are!" Jackson still looked confused. "Okay..." Sookie patted him sympathetically on the shoulder. "It's okay, hon.. we don't know what she's talking about 90% of the time either." "Hey," Lorelai said, looking at Sookie with puppy eyes. "I need cake." Sookie giggled. "You should see the cake I made! It has thick gooey chocolate icing with mocha chip chunk cookies bits on top..." Lorelai leaned her head on Luke's shoulder and her tongue was hanging out. "Mmmmmm..." Luke eyed her and said, "Hey, let's bring the cake before Lorelai's tongue falls in my lap..." Lorelai sat up. "Oh, dirty! Such a dirty man!" Luke blushed. "That's not what I meant..." Lorelai giggled. "Sookie, let's bring out these cake already!" ********************************* I end here, because, MMmmm cake is good and important... -Ggirl 


	26. Michael Jackson has fans?

MMm cake hehe oops, sorrie what i meant was I end the chapter there.. not over yet, kids hehe I still have to think of the stupendous ending! btw, does anyone know Luke went to college at all? I started working on my new fanfic teehehe Neways, here's the new chapters.. thanx so much for the feedback, u guys are so sweet =) -Ggirl ********************************** "Ugh.. never say the word 'cake' again in front of me ever again," Lorelai said, rubbing her stomach. Lorelai had eaten a record 5 pieces. "Cake," Luke said with a sly smile on his face. "Ugh, cruel, cruel man...," Lorelai said and undid the top button of her jeans. "I can't.. breathe..." Luke just stared at the undone button. "Uhhhh..." "Men," Lorelai said and rolled her eyes. "All they ever think about is..." Luke broke her off with a deep kiss. Lorelai wrapped her arms around his neck. "It's a good thing we think so much alike," She whispered. "Great minds tend to," Luke said and kissed her. ********************************** "Hi....," Rory said, her eyes on an uncomfortable looking Jess. "Hey," Jess said gruffly. "What are you doing here?" She asked and cocked her head. "Uh.. is this a bad time?" He tried to look behind her into her dorm room. "No, no," She said and opened the door wider so he could come in. "Come in." "Thanks," He said and entered the room. Posters of the Bangles, Sam Phillips, and the great writers of the 20th Century mingled together on the walls. "Nice posters." "Thanks," Rory said. They sat down together on her bed. "So.. uh...," Jess started. "Yeah?" "How's life going?" Jess said looking at his hands. "Um. Good, I guess," Rory said. 'What is he doing here?' Jess took a deep breath. "Look, I can't stop thinking about you, I can't eat, I can't sleep.. I couldn't stay at school... I had to come here... Rory..," Rory looked at him with wide eyes. "Rory, I need to know...," Jess said looking at her with an intense gaze. Rory bit her lip. "Do you love me?" Jess said rapidly. It was the l-word again. She would have prefered any other l-word at that momemt.. lasagna, loafer.. loafer, what a funny word... lint, lumber, locquacious, levity, lugubrious.... Jess looked at her intently. "ROry?" "Huh?" Rory stopped thinking of l-words and looked at him. 'Love.' Jess bit his lip. 'You're an idiot, Mariano.. she doesn't love you....' He stood up. "Sorry, I uh.. have to go." Rory's mind was screaming. 'Tell him, damnit, tell him what you think.' Jess walked swiftly towards the door and put his hand on the knob. "Um. See you around." He turned the knob and pulled open the door. Rory's mind was racing. 'Think, think.. is this what you want? Did you want Jess all along?' She tried to think faster, tried to organize her feelings.. she threw her hands in the air.. damnit, this wasn't science or history or psychology .. this was.. love. This was Jess, who understood her so well. Jess, whom she had broken up with because of distance, not because of difference. Jess who read books just as fast as she did. Jess who was cute and smart.. lazy, but smart. She looked up at him leaving the room. 'Say something,' She thought. "Wait!" Rory cried out. He turned around slowly. "I...." Rory hesitated. "I'd.. like us to.. you know, get back together..." Jess smiled slowly. 'It's not love, but it's start,' He thought. "Really?" Rory smiled back. "Yes." She looked at Jess, standing here. He walked over to her in three swift steps and wrapped her in his arms. "Rory," He said into her soft hair. Rory leaned her head against his shoulder, telling herself that she would be good to him. ********************************** _The Next Morning..._ Luke watched as Lorelai slept, careful not to wake her. He rolled over on his side and leaned on his elbow. Her eyes fluttered and then opened. "Hi," He whispered. Lorelai smiled slightly. "Good morning," He said and kissed her on the nose. Lorelai muttered something. He kissed her again, this time on the lips. "MMmmmmm," She murmured. "What?" Luke asked as he kissed the side of her neck. "... coffee," Lorelai said, grinning. Luke groaned. Lorelai giggled. "You know how to ruin a mood, Lorelai," He grunted and started to get out of bed. "Aww, I'm just kidding," Lorelai said and pulled him back down. "Wait.. there was a mood?" She giggled. Luke rolled his eyes. "I meant.." "You meant...?" "This is nice," He said smiling, sitting on the bed. Luke brushed a strand of hair off of Lorelai's face. "Waking up together." Lorelai smiled at him. "We were waking up together for a month before." "Yeah, but that was different. I would roll out of my sleeping bag, you would grumble about coffee..." "Nothing changed, except that there's no more sleeping bag," Lorelai said. Luke narrowed his eyes. "Once, again, you are a mood-ruiner." Lorelai laughed. "Wow, for a second there, you sounded like me." Luke smiled and kissed her. "Mood ruiner." "Lorelai wannabe." "Coffee junkie." "Flannel covered...man." Luke smiled. "I think you lost that round." "Did not!" "You said man." "So?" "Therefore you are disqualified," Luke said and crossed his arms. "Uh... no," Lorelai said, frowning. "Who made these rules anyways?" "The man who makes coffee," Luke said smiling. "Ah, damn, you win," Lorelai said dejectedly. "Now can I have coffee?" He got up from the bed and padded across the room. "It's brewing already." "You're an angel!" Lorelai said getting out of bed. "I just loveeeee yo-...." She stopped. Luke swallowed hard. "Uh.. let's just go downstairs." He left the room in a hurry. 'Stupid, stupid,' Lorelai thought hitting herself on the forehead. Sighing, she sat back down on the bed. 'I've always had trouble with the l-word,' She thought, biting her lip. 'Do I.. love him?' She knew he loved her, and honestly, that made it so much easier for her to like him back. But, actually saying the word scared her. Because if she said it, she made it official. They were no longer friends. They were Luke and Lorelai, the couple. She was scared to take that next step. But it was strange that she was scared, because they were technically already a couple. In fact, they had been for weeks. 'What are you waiting for?' Lorelai got back up from the bed and went downstairs. *********************************** "Hi," Jess said, entering the room. Rory rolled over and groaned. "What time is it?" She rubbed her eyes. "Ten," Jess said and set a paper bag down. "Where's Paris?" "She went to class," Jess said and sat down on Paris's bed across from Rory's. Rory grumbled and sat up slowly. 'I have so much work to do,' She thought and looked across the room at Jess. "Hi," She said, smiling sleepily. "Hi," He smiled back at her. "I got muffins and coffee." "You're an angel," She said yawning and took the muffin from him. "Mmmm chocolate chip." She sleepily took a bite and slowly chewed. Jess smiled looking at her. "Are you even awake?" "Nope," Rory said swallowing and then yawning. "I'm multi-talented. I'm actually sleeping right now..." Jess got up from the bed. "I should really start getting back to school." Rory looked up at him. "Call me." "I will," Jess said and got his jacket. "Thanks for letting me sleep on the floor." "Anytime, Buster," Rory said and stretched. "I'll see you later." Jess kissed her on the cheek and left. Rory swallowed hard. 'Did I do the right thing?' *********************************** Later that day, Lorelai and Luke were spending a quiet night at home.. or Errr... quiet in a Lorelai sort of way. "UCk!" Lorelai yelled and threw popcorn at the screen. Luke came back from the kitchen and sat down with a bowl in his hand. "What?" "It's that man-ho, The Bachelor," She wrinkled her nose. "He's not even hot. I can't believe all those women stuck their tongues down his sleazy throat. Gross!" Luke laughed at her. "I mean, really.. look at him! He's not even hot in that Brad-Pitt-hot sort of way..." Lorelai cocked her head. "Wait, no one is hot in that Brad-Pitt-hot sort of way..." "Except Brad Pitt," Luke said. "Exactly!" Lorelai said and pointed a finger at him. "You are so good at this!" Luke smiled. "Thanks.. I think." "If he was hot in that Brad-Pitty sort of way, I would consider sticking my tongue...," Lorelai started. "Uh huh," Luke said looking at her strangely. ".. out at .. him," She finished awkwardly. "Because I..." Luke looked at her fidgeting. "I'm in love with another man," She finished, smiling slightly. "But I wonder...if he loves me back." Luke looked at her with an open-mouthed expression. Then he reached over to kiss her. "I think he loves you, too." They pulled apart and looked at each other. 'So it's official,' Lorelai thought. 'And I'm loving it.' She had finally found the one.. no, they found each other years ago, it had just taken a decade for them to realize it. But hell, the cattle tick went to sleep for 17 years.. then it woke up, bit a dog's butt and died. Lorelai smiled. "Surprised?" "Maybe," Luke said as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "But not as surprised as Michael Jackson when he realized that.. oh my god, he still has some fans." Luke smiled. "I'll just pretend that I understood that." Lorelai giggled and snuggled up to him. "I love you." "I love you." They sat together, holding each other and watching as the Bachelor started kissing Woman #23. "What a man-ho," Lorelai said, with a look of distaste on her face. ********************************* Wheeeeeeeeeeeee Yeah, so Rory is definitely confused.. or perhaps the girl who writes about Rory is confused.. -Ggirl 


	27. Josh and Cher and Sponge Bob

Hola! This chapter is all L/L so if you're in that R/J stuff.. i'm sorrie hehe -Ggirl *********************************** _5 Months Later (sometime in June)..._ "I wanna dancing monkey," Lorelai said. She was sitting at the counter at the diner while Luke worked. "What?" Luke rolled his eyes and poured her a cup of coffee. "I saw it on the internet," Lorelai replied. "They do interpretive dances." Lorelai hopped off her chair and started to do a weird dance. "Dancing monkeys?" Luke asked and reached across the counter to stop her from dancing. "You're scaring the customers away." She grinned. "Not as funny as dancing Luke, but it will do," Lorelai replied smiling. Luke rolled his eyes again. "Don't you ever go to work?" Lorelai gave him a feigned look of shock. "I _do_ work!" Luke snorted. "You're always here." "On my breaks!" Lorelai said. "I think I deserve a donut for your berating me." Luke sighed. "Those can kill you." "Hey, diner man, it's either the donut or the monkeys!" Luke handed her a donut. "Smart choice," She said cheekily and kissed him. "Gotta run.. think about the monkeys!" Luke smiled as she breezed out the door. "See you later." She waved and blew him a kiss. Everyone was staring at Luke blush. "Hey, if anyone mentions the word 'cute' I'm going to hurt you," He warned. ******************************* _Later that night..._ "LUKeeeeeeeee!!!" Luke looked up from the counter and saw Lorelai run through the door. "Lukey, you have to come now!" She said breathless. "Wow, you ran here," Luke said with fake amazement in his voice. "Ha.. ha," She said and frowned. "No, but seriously, we have to go right now!" "Where are _we_ going?" "Well," Lorelai said thoughtfully. "If I tell you, you won't want to come, so just come!" Luke snorted. "Are you trying to convince me to come with you?" "Yes." "Well, it's not working," Luke said pointedly and crossed his arms. "I have a lot of work to do. I still need to clean up back there." Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Come on, it's 10 o'clock on a Friday night and all you want to do is clean?" Luke snorted. "I don't _want_ to clean, I have to clean." "I have to clean the house.. but I'm not," Lorelai said. "That's because I cleaned it yesterday," Luke deadpanned. "Damn, you're getting good at this," Lorelai said and bit her lip. 'How can I convince him to come with me to the biggest teen flick marathon in the history of the Gilmores?' Suddenly, Lorelai reached over the counter. She grabbed the back of his head with her hand and brought him in for a deep kiss. "Come now?" Luke nodded. "Cleaning can wait..." Lorelai grinned a victory smile. ******************************* "TEEN MOVIE MARATHON!?" Lorelai smiled angelically. "You called me out here to watch a bunch of teen flicks??" Luke and Lorelai were standing in front of a movie theater in Hartford. Luke looked a little fumed, but Lorelai was pretty sure that she could make him calm down sooner or later. "Rory's busy with her internship and I had no one to go with!" She whined. "I told you, you wouldn't come if I told you." Luke groaned. "I can't believe I'm doing this..." Lorelai giggled and looped her arm through his. "I love you!" She pecked him on the cheek as they entered the theater. "Everyone here is under the age of 11," Luke grunted. "Don't be sad, Luke, I'll make out with you!" "You're gross," He muttered under his breath and gave her a sickened look. "Positively sick." "So, you don't want to make out with me?" "Ummm.. maybe later," Luke said. Lorelai beamed at him. Suddenly, she saw something that made her stop abruptly. "What?" Luke asked as she gasped. "They have Sponge Bob Square Pants popcorn buckets," She said, looking at him with wide-eyes. "So?" "Sponge Bob!" "Who's that?" "Sponge Bob!!" Luke sighed. "I'll get you one." Lorelai giggled and walked with him to the concession stand. ****************************** _Cher: As IF! I am only sixteen, and this is California, not Kentucky. (Mr. Hall and Miss Giest get married) Tai: I know, that when I have my own wedding, I want this, like whole entire floral motif, very floral garlens... floral dresses. Dionne: No, no, no, no. When I get married, I'm gonna have a sailor dress, but it's going to be a gown, and all my bridesmaids are gonna wear sailor hats... with vails. Tai: That sounds so cool. Murray: Oh, my God. They're planning our weddings already. Could you all stop all that to death do us part mumbo-jumbo. I'm telling ya, man, I'm completely buggin'. Josh: I'm buggin' myself. (Miss Stoeger runs on the scene) Miss Stoeger: Girls! She's about to throw the bouquet, c'mon! (Miss Stoeger, Dionne and Tai run off) Josh (to Cher): Look, we got a pool going to see who's girl gets the bouquet. It's up to two hundred dollars. Cher:It's in the bag. (All the girls are jumping around waiting for the bouquet. Miss Giest/Mrs. Hall throws it amongst them. The bouquet exchanges hands and they all fall down. Cher ends up with it.) (Cher and Josh kiss) _ "Oh, Josh!" Lorelai said in a high pitched voice as they were leaving the theater. "Stop," Luke said. He looked around nervously, to make sure no one had seen him exit a theater showing a succession of teen flicks. "As IF!" Lorelai said and put her hands on her hips. "You are no fun," Lorelai said in her normal voice and pouted. Luke rolled his eyes. "Sorry.. Cher." "Thank you, Josh. I so need lessons from you on how to be cool. Tell me that part about Kenny G again?" Lorelai was back into her "valley girl" mode. "Ahhhhh," Luke said. Lorelai giggled. "How many times have you seen this movie anyways?" Luke asked as they walked to his truck. "Oh, I don't know... forty.. fifty... thousand times...," Lorelai said thinking. Luke snorted. ********************************* _Car ride home...._ "And then, my 29th most favorite part is where Josh and Cher are driving and then Cher is driving on the wrong side of the road..," Lorelai started. Luke nodded, almost bored out of his mind. "And my 30th favorite scene is where the girls are thinking about their weddings and Dionne's all like 'I want sailor hats' and I'm like 'yuck', sailor hats are so ugly and out this season," Lorelai babbled. Luke heard the word 'wedding' and looked at her. "Do all girls do that?" "What?" Lorelai asked. "You know... plan their weddings ahead of time?" Luke asked, his eyes now focused on the road. 'Marriage?' "Yeah, I guess so," Lorelai said. "I've always wanted dancing monkeys and a Sponge-Bob Square Pants themed wedding. And my flower girls will be Mary Kate and Ashley. And Oooo, I want Mr. T to be the Reverend. He'll be like 'I pity the fooo who didn't marry Lorelai Gilmore while she was still single!'" "I pity the foo.. who sits next to her through long car rides," Luke said under his breath. "Hey, mister! I heard that!" Lorelai said with a frown. Luke smiled. "I'm just kidding. You know I love spending time with you." "Awww.. you are just too cute!" Luke blushed. 'I wonder if she ever thinks about marriage?' "Anyways.. so my 31st favorite scene is where...," Lorelai said happily. "Oh, God," Luke said. ********************************* As they were passing by Luke's diner on the way to Lorelai's house, Lorelai suddenly said. "I need coffee." "Right now?" "Yes." "It's 2 in the morning," Luke said yawning. "But do we actually plan on sleeping?" Lorelai asked. "I do...," Luke said and then saw the sly look in Lorelai's eyes. ".. not." He stopped the car. "What were my chances of not giving into you?" Luke suddenly asked. "Slim to none, c'mon," Lorelai said in her valley girl voice and got out of the truck. "That was from the movie wasn't it?" Luke called after her. "You're getting good, Josh!" 


	28. Why does chest hair keep coming up in th...

Ahh I totally forgot but that script (it was in italics) was from the movie "Clueless" with Alicia Silverstone and Paul Rudd. Totally the property of Paramount Pictures.. Great movie by the way. MY FAVORITE!!! AS IF.. I could write something that hilarious hehee -Ggirl ********************************* "Okay, let's go," Lorelai said, holding two cups of coffee in her hands. "Hold this?" Luke took the cups. "I'll drive," Lorelai said and started to get into the driver's seat. "No, I'll drive, it's okay," Luke said and handed her the cups back. "I haven't driven since...," Lorelai started. "The accident," Luke said. "It makes me nervous." "When I drive," Lorelai said with a questioning look on her face. "You did get the part where the policeman said, it wasn't your fault, there should be a sign on that road?" "Yes." "And the part where the nice policeman said, 'Trucks are not allowed on that road, therefore that truck shouldn't have been on that road.'" "Yes." "So you get the part where it's not my fault and I'm a good driver?" Luke sighed and nodded. "I just get.. upset, when I think about the accident." "Okay, Luke," Lorelai said hugging him awkwardly while trying not to spill any coffee. "You're sweet, but I'm going to have to drive eventually..." Luke sighed. "You're right, give me the coffee." She smiled and handed him the two cups. "Take care of my babies." Lorelai took the keys from him and hopped into the driver's seat. ********************************* Later, as Lorelai lay sleeping next to him, Luke watched her. 'I wonder if she's ever thought about our marrying...,' Luke thought. "Lorelai?" He whispered. Lorelai groaned and rolled over. "Hmmmm?" "Did you ever think about our marrying?" "I'm only 16...," Lorelai murmured. "Huh?" "And this is California, not.. Kentucky...," Lorelai said sleepily. Luke gave her a look and sighed. 'I wonder if she wants it as much as I do...' ********************************* _The Next Morning...._ "I'll have the special." "The special?" Luke raised an eyebrow. "Yes." "The omelette," Luke said. He pointed to the specials board. "That special." "No, the other one," Lorelai deadpanned. "You'll hate it," Luke said. "You don't even know what's in it." "So tell me." "It's an omelette with three eggs, oregano, tomatoes, and ham." Luke replied. "Hm.. I want a side of bacon with that." "Okay." "And hold the oregano.. remember, I might be allergic." "To oregano?" "To all vegetables. So hold the tomatoes too." "Okay," Luke said and rolled her eyes. "Oh, and I don't like my meat and eggs to mix. Hold the ham." Luke stared at her long and hard. "Why can't they mix?" "Well the meat started going out with the tomatoes and forgot to tell the eggs. So now, they can't be on the same plate." "I won't ask." Luke said and started to walk away. "OH, and Lukey, can you throw some toast into the eggs?" Luke turned around and glared at her. "So you want French toast." "No, I want the special without the ham, tomatoes, oregano but throw in the toast and a side of bacon." Luke looked like he was going to scream. Lorelai just smiled calmly and said, "Shouldn't you go get my breakfast?" Luke rolled his eyes and walked into the kitchen. Suddenly, he walked back to the table. "Uh.. breakfast?" Lorelai asked. "No.. but um.. I'm gonna get it.. but I wanted to ask you something," Luke said nervously. "Yes, I do think NSYNC is slightly gay, but that is forgiven because Justin is beautiful," Lorelai replied. "Uh...." "Okay, ask away, just as long as it's not about quantum physics." "Okay.. um.. do you want to go out tonight?" "You're asking me out!!??" Lorelai squealed and clapped her hands. Luke rolled his eyes. "No, really.. like go out, like dress-up go out.." "You're asking me to dress up and go out!!??" Luke smiled at her enthusiasm. "You know I'll say yes, right?" "Yes, I do." "Okay, then breakfast first, diner man! I have to get ready." Lorelai looked thoughtful. "What should I wear?" Luke snorted but started towards the kitchen. "Wait.. is NSYNC coming?" ********************************* _Later that day..._ "Lane!" Rory walked into the familiar old Victorian, looking for Lane. "Lane not here." Rory jumped at the sound of Mrs. Kim's voice. "Uh.. thank you." "Leave now," Mrs. Kim said and folded her arms. "Right..., bye," Rory said quickly and left the house. "Almost 2 decades, and she's still the scariest person I know." Rory shook her head. Being on summer vacation was nice, even thought she had to go to Hartford every day for her internship. She loved her internship though. Rory was working at a small political Hartford newspaper. It was a great experience because she got to speak with many politicians and get a behind the scenes look at what it was like working for a newspaper. 'And it's even better to know that next year I can come down here whenever I want,' Rory thought smiling. At the end of the year, she had successfully transferred from Harvard to Yale, to the shock of Lorelai and Rory's friends at Harvard, and to the delight of Richard Gilmore. "You're doing the right thing, Rory," Her grandfather had said, nodding with approval. She thought so too. Rory had really missed being home and the whole situation with Paris and Tristan had been so complicated and confusing. She and Paris were still going to stay friends, but she really didn't want to be on the same campus as Tristan. It made her feel guilty and uncomfortable. "Hey," Jess said and put an arm around her. "Hey, where'd you come from?" "Luke's," Jess replied as they walked down the street together. "What are you doing tonight?" "I don't know.. supposedly, Luke has some big thing planned for tonight..," Rory replied. "Oh yeah...," Jess said. "It's so weird. Uncle Luke doesn't _plan_ events..." Rory nodded. "Yeah it is weird. He doesn't even _go_ to most.." "Do you know what it's about?" "No, but he wanted to talk with Lane about some 'last minute details' or something," Rory said. "But she wasn't home." "Does Lane know what it's about?" "Yeah, I was gonna try to get it out of her," Rory said slyly. "But she wasn't home." "Ahhh.. I see," Jess said as they approached the diner. They entered the diner to see Luke on the phone. When he saw the two of them, he quickly put the phone down. "Uh.. hi," He said to the couple. "Do you guys want anything?" "No thanks." Rory wondered who he had been on the phone with. "Lane's not home." "Oh, okay. Thanks," Luke said. Rory gave Jess a look. 'What's going on?' Jess shrugged. "Uh.. Rory, can you tell your mom I'm going to pick her up at 6?" Luke asked. "Yeah sure...," Rory answered. As Jess and Rory were leaving the diner, she said, "It just keeps getting more and more mysterious..." "My uncle, the man of mystery." Rory stopped walking. "Yuck.. I just imagined him with a heart-shaped chest of hair." Rory made a face and gagged. Jess looked like he just had an epiphany. "Oooohhh," He said dramatically. "It must run in the family...that explains mine." 


	29. Okay, no chest hair in this chapter

It was strange. Luke and Lorelai had been friends forever but yet, he still felt like he was falling in love with her all over again every time he saw her. And when he didn't see her for a whole day, he felt a little ache in his heart. He felt like bringing her flowers (he did that once, but then changed to marshmallows) and holding her hand...and all that gushy romance stuff that he used to say was stupid. But now he understood why some people did it. It was the other person who inspired you to do silly romantic things. And Lorelai made him want to do those things.. Luke pulled into her driveway. He took a deep breath and checked his pocket for the box. 'This is it,' He thought and got out of his car. ******************************** DING DONG! "There's your Prince Charming, Mom!" Rory called up the stairs. A harried Lorelai came running down the stairs. She was wearing a simple black dress with her tear drop earrings and a Y-shaped necklace. "Aww, Mom, you look great!" Lorelai smiled. "I'm kinda nervous...zipper?" Rory zippered up her dress and handed her her handbag. "It's Luke, whom you've known for years." "I know, but this is like the first time we've gone out like all dolled up and stuff." Lorelai said. "I'll be home by midnight..." "K, I'll send out the search groups at 1 am," Rory said and ushered her mom out of the living room. "I want details!" 'She obviously hasn't heard anything about Luke's big plans...,' Rory thought. Lorelai smiled and opened the front door for Luke. ******************************** "Wow." Luke gaped at the beautiful woman standing in front of him. 'What did I do to deserve this, God?' Lorelai smiled shyly and opened the door wider so Luke could come in. "You look pretty hot yourself." She smiled at him, all dressed up in suit and tie. "I didn't know you owned a suit." "It's the bank suit, you know the one I wear to the bank." Lorelai nodded. "When you say hot.. do you mean Brad-Pitty hot?" Lorelai laughed. "Only you and Brad Pitt are Brad-Pitty hot." Luke smiled. "You want to come in for a sec?" Luke looked at his watch. "I think we should get going." Lorelai waved goodbye to Rory and stepped out. "Let's go." "Have fun you kiddies!" Rory called out. They waved to her. Luke took Lorelai's hand and led her to the car. "You rented a car!" Lorelai said and looked up at him with a surprised look on his face. "What's the occassion?" "Leave-your-truck-at-home day?" Luke joked and opened the passenger door for her. Lorelai snorted and got into the car. Luke closed the door. "Wow, Luke," Lorelai said and turned to him. "You went all out for this..." Luke shrugged sheepishly. "I thought you might like it.." "I love it," Lorelai said and leaned in for a kiss. They were interrupted by a rapping on the driver's side. Luke and Lorelai broke apart to see Jess standing there. "You two stop making out and go already?" He said in an annoyed tone. Luke gave him a scowl and turned on the engine. "Have fun!" Jess said grinning and waved to them. ******************************** Luke pulled up in front of a restuarant. "They don't serve hamburgers here, do they?" Lorelai said jokingly. 'Why is he doing all this?' Luke smiled. "You could ask." Lorelai had been unusually quiet during the card ride. Luke had attempted to make conversation, but she had just seemed interested in looking out the window. Besides a couple of Lorelai-esque "Are we there yet?"s, she hadn't talked much. Luke and Lorelai got out of the car and entered the restuarant. "Reservation for Danes," Luke said. The host nodded and took them to a table. The restuarant was beautiful; little twinkling lights decorated the entire premise. "I can't read the menu," Lorelai whispered to Luke after they were seated. "Try the escargot," Luke said. Lorelai made a face. "Good try, but no. I know what _that_ is..." She rolled her eyes. "Lobster?" "Don't they serve anything not in a shell or slimey?" Lorelai asked biting her lip. "And on a bun?" Luke asked smiling. "You read my mind," Lorelai said. Luke reached across the table and put his hand on top of hers. "Just call me Ms. Cleo." Lorelai laughed. "Okay. You order whatever you want and make it two." Luke looked up at her. "Are you sure?" Luke held back his disappointment. He had wanted this to be the perfect evening.. but he had obviously picked the wrong restuarant. "Yeah, and Luke..," Lorelai started. She had noticed a look flash across his eyes. "Yeah?" "I love this...," She said and smiled slowly. 'He tried so hard to make this perfect.' 'God, I love you,' Luke thought as he looked at the woman sitting across from him. He smiled and when the waiter came, he ordered. *********************************** "This is pretty good...," Lorelai said as she took another bite of her meal. Luke nodded and smiled. 'Whew.' "Oh, by the way...," Luke said. "NSYNC wanted to come but they couldn't because Justin was having a hairspray emergency." Lorelai smiled. "Well, that might actually be a good thing because otherwise, Justin and I would be having a 'who's more beautiful' contest right now." "I think you would have won," Luke said adoringly. "Flattering will get you nowhere, mister," Lorelai said scolding him. Luke smiled slyly. "And not flattering will?" Lorelai giggled. "Depends on where you're going.." Just as Luke was about to talk, they were interrupted. "Lorelai?" "Michel?" Lorelai looked up at Michel, who had a woman with him. "Wait a minute... Michel, I thought you were gay!" Michel looked at her wide-eyed. "I am not!" He said angrily. His date looked at the two. "Hi, I'm Lorelai, you must be his therapist?" Lorelai extended a hand to Michel's date. She ignored Lorelai and turned to Michel. "You're gay?" "You're a therapist?" Michel asked her. Lorelai looked at Luke with a look of alarm. 'Oops..' "Uh, guys, I was kidding about both." Michel and his date looked at each other. "Uh.. I think it's time we left...," Luke interrupted. Lorelai nodded, a little too eagerly. "Sorry, see you later!" As Luke and Lorelai were leaving, Michel mouthed to her, 'I despise you.' Lorelai grinned back winningly. 'Me too,' She mouthed. Luke rolled his eyes and dragged her out of the restuarant. ********************************* 'Eight o'clock,' Luke said as he looked at the clock in the car. 'Hope I'm not late..' Lorelai was puzzled about this whole thing. She was enjoying all the frou-frou, but she didn't understand it at all. Luke popped in a CD. The strains of Bing Crosby came through the speakers. "Christmas music!" Lorelai said happily and clapped her hands. "You are so good, Lukey." Luke smiled at her child-like joy. _Have yourself.. a merry little Christmas..._ Bing Crosby crooned. "I love this song!" She said excitedly and looked at him. "I thought you would...even though it's June," Luke said and concentrated on the road. ********************************** As they entered Star's Hollow, Lorelai noticed that the gazebo was completely lit up in twinkling Christmas lights. "What's going on?" Lorelai said and strained to get a better look. She pulled down the window and stuck her head out. "Whoa, whoa," Luke said and pulled her back in. "That's dangerous." Lorelai reluctantly poked her head back in and pouted. Luke smiled. "We'll be there soon." He pulled the car in front of his diner and parked it. Lorelai hopped out of the car and looked at the crowd, who in turn was looking at Luke and Lorelai. "What's going on? A fundraiser I haven't heard of?" Lorelai asked Patty. Patty shrugged. "Are we going to buy another tarp for the bridge?" Lorelai asked Taylor. Taylor shook his head no. "Rory! Help me here!" Lorelai called out to her daughter, who was standing next to Jess. Rory smiled but didn't say anything. "Okay...," Lorelai said and turned back to Luke, who standing with his hands in his pockets. "Um.. Luke?" Luke just smiled and gave her an indication to look at the gazebo. Lane, Dave, Zach, and Brian were standing there with their instruments. "Umm.. okay?" Lorelai said, puzzled. "Why do I feel like I'm having a crazy-psycho moment and soon I'm going to wake up?" Luke just smiled. "Look." Lorelai turned around to look at the band. They started to play. _Close your eyes, give me your hand, darling Do you feel my heart beating Do you understand Do you feel the same Am I only dreaming Is this burning an eternal flame_ "I love this song! Although, I must say, I've never heard a guy sing it before... or a guy sing that high...," Lorelai said and turned to look at Luke. He looked at her with an intense gaze. "Umm.. Luke? This is usually where you snort or grunt," Lorelai said and put a hand on Luke's arm. 'This is it,' Luke thought and slowly took out the little box that had been burning a hole in his pocket all night. Luke got down on one knee and opened the little box to reveal a glimmering diamond. _I believe it's meant to be, darling_ "Oh my God," Lorelai said and put a hand to her mouth. _I watch you when you are sleeping_ "Lorelai..." _You belong with me_ "Oh my God." _Do you feel the same?_ Luke took a deep breath. The entire crowd seemed to be watching them. Luke kneeled in the middle of the street, and Lorelai with a shocked expression on her face. _Am I only dreaming_ "Ask her already!" Jess called out. _Or is this burning an eternal flame?_ ".. Will you marry me?" Luke asked, looking up at the woman he loved. Lorelai started to cry. "Oh, God, I didn't want to...," Luke said nervously and started to get up. "No," Lorelai said between sobs. "Don't get up." Luke got back down. "Sorry.. Lorelai.. I...." He felt like this was a mistake, as he looked at the eagerly waiting crowd and his crying girlfriend. Luke bit his lip and started to close the little box. This wasn't how he'd imagined it at all... "Yes, I'll marry you, silly! I love you!" Lorelai said in between tears and flung her arms around his neck. A smile that was wider than Barney the Purple Dinosaur's butt spread across Luke's face [AN: haha I know that sounded weird.. hehe]. He wrapped his arms around Lorelai and kissed her deeply. "Awwwww," everyone said. Babette and Patty dabbed their eyes. ".. that was the most romantic thing...," Babette sobbed. Suddenly, a loud voice broke through the 'aww'ing and 'ooh'ing. "DO I HEAR ROCK MUSIC?" Everyone turned around to see a very angry Mamma Kim. The drumming stopped and a hysterical Lane ran across the circle. "LANE!" "Uh oh," Lorelai said, wiping her tears away. ********************************* There was a huge crowd of people surrounding the gazebo. Everyone was dancing as the band - sans Lane - played. Poor Dave looked upset. Luke leaned his forehead against hers as they danced their first as an engaged couple. He mouthed the words to her and she giggled as they danced. _Is this burning.. an eternal flame?_ 'Yes.' Lorelai mouthed back. Luke entwined his hand in hers. "I love you." "I love you...," Lorelai said and pulled him in for a kiss. ********************************* Wow, reading that was like walkign through some really wet snow, rite? Smush, smush.. hehe.. awww I know I wrote this but.. I was on the verge of tears when Luke asked her to marry him.. OMG why doesnt something happen b/t them on teh show? Argh.. i'm mad at the writers. but the truth is, nothing's gonna happen until the ratings start to go down.. Mean. x( Neways.. that concludes my story, THANK YOU guys SOOO much for reading/reviewing.. you guys are AWESOME! -Ggirl P.S. There will be an epilogue (ch. 30, to round off the number of chapters to a nice, even number).. =) Until then, Happy Thanksgiving! 


	30. Epilogue

Heyyy.. hehe here's the epilogue, it's not as good as I wish it could be, but it's okay.. and I picture this as Luke and Lorelai happiness hehe -Ggirl *********************************** "Pleeeasseeeeeeee!" "No." "I'll be eternally grateful!" "You said that yesterday, therefore, you're already eternally grateful." "Damn," Lorelai said and frowned. Luke smirked and folded his arms. "I believe 'Luke-meister' has won this round." "So.. you're really not going to give me coffee?" Lorelai said, wide-eyed. "I don't know.. maybe if you....," Luke started slyly but then abruptly stopped. He looked down at their daughter. "I'll think of something later." Lorelai giggled and put Laurie on her lap. "Sounds dirty..." Luke smiled and poured her a cup of coffee. "So, what are you two up to today?" "Well...," Lorelai said. "I thought we would go shopping for dresses for Rory's graduation." "Sounds fun," Luke deadpanned. Lorelai smiled. "You want to come?" "Are you kidding?" Lorelai laughed. "We'll get you a dress, too. Right, Laurie? We'll get Daddy a nice dress." Two year old Laurie nodded and continued to play with her dolls. "Dwess for Daddy," the little girl said. Luke looked at her open-mouthed. "Don't give her ideas!" Lorelai laughed and poked him. "Hear what the little Einstein said. I'm sure you'll be a sexy mofo in your dress." Luke just rolled his eyes. "I'll see you later," Lorelai said and shouldered her bag. Holding Laurie's hand, Lorelai leaned over the counter and kissed Luke. "Not much later, I hope," Luke whispered in her ear. "Dirty, dirty man," Lorelai said, wagging a finger. She smiled slyly. "Bye! I'm gonna go excercise our credit cards." Luke rolled his eyes but gave her an affectionate look as two of the most important women in his life left the diner [AN: the third being Rory....] "Still got that flame, huh, Uncle Luke," Jess said sarcastically as he came down the stairs. "Shut up," Luke said gruffly. Jess loved to bring up how he had proposed to Lorelai. He thought it was the funniest thing ever. *********************************** A couple hours later, Lorelai entered the diner with Laurie in one hand and 4 bags in the other. "Oh God," Luke muttered as he saw his wife walk in. "So, I found this great dress, and then I'm like 'Hey, I need shoes!'. So then I buy the shoes. BUt then, I need a bag, obviously, so I buy the bag. And then I need accessories, 'cause..," Lorelai started. "Okay, I get the point," Luke said rolling eyes. "At least you didn't lose Laurie this time." "Hey!" Lorelai said. "Excuse me mister, but that was an honest mistake. She ran away and.. Oh my GOd, don't even remind me because I almost had a heart attack that time." "I'm just glad you two are okay," Luke smiled. "Yeah, well, she's last night's pot roast and I was Mrs. Saran Wrap. We stuck together like glue," Lorelai said nodding. "I can't believe Rory's graduating," Luke said and leaned on the counter. Lorelai smiled. "Rory, Yale graduate! Yeah, I can't really believe it either. I mean, it seems like yesterday that I was lying on that hospital bed..." Luke looked at Laurie as Lorelai started to ramble about Rory's birth. "She loves this story," Luke said, picking his daughter up. Laurie giggled and he kissed her on the top of her head. "Let's go get you a cookie," Luke whispered in Laurie's ear and stealthily walked into the kitchen. "Hey!! I'm not done with my story yet!" ********************************** "Lorelai Gilmore-Danes." Lorelai started to tear up as Rory walked across the stage to get her diploma. Luke squeezed her hand and continued to bump Laurie up and down on his knee. Lorelai was sobbing now. "She.. looks.. so grown up...," Lorelai sniffled. "That's because she is," Luke said and draped an arm around his wife. ********************************** After the graduation ceremony, they packed into the car to go back to Star's Hollow for a special celebration. "Awww, Sookie, you made me a graduation cake!!" Rory said and hugged her. "Of course I did, pumpkin!" Sookie giggled and hugged her back. "Congratulations!" "Thanks! Hi, Kiki," Rory said and waved to the little girl standing at Sookie's side. "Wow, you've gotten so big!" Kiki giggled and wrapped her arms around Sookie's leg. "Um, honey? Mommy can't walk," Sookie said looking down at her daughter. Kiki hung on. "Okay, with difficulty, Mommy can." Sookie started to walk away with Kiki attached to her leg. "Hey." Rory looked up to see her boyfriend standing next to her. "Hey," Rory said and kissed Jess. "I missed you at the ceremony." Jess hugged her. "I was there," He smiled. "But I couldn't find you in that huge crowd. Congratulations." He kissed her again. Rory smiled. "I'm so happy we're going to Columbia together." "Well, they do have the best journalism school. I'm not going just because of you," He teased. "Silly," Rory said and pouted. "Okay, yes I am! I admit it," Jess said and smiled. "I knew it!" Rory said melodramatically. "Now eat some cake." She handed him a piece. "OOoo, I get the tassel. I am very lucky," Jess said and took a bite. "Mmm, good cake." "Cake," Rory said dramatically. ".. is always good." Jess smiled and nodded (AN: because that's what you do to keep crazy people calm). ******************************** _Later that night, after Rory's party was over..._ Luke and Lorelai sat on the gazebo, Luke's arm draped around Lorelai's shoulder. "This is nice," Lorelai murmured, her head leaning against his shoulder. Luke kissed the top of her head. "Hey," Lorelai said suddenly and lifted her head to look at Luke. "Did I ever tell you?" "What?" "That I love you," Lorelai said and smiled softly. "Forever and ever?" Luke kissed her deeply. "I can't even start to tell you how much I love you...," He whispered into her hair. "Hey, you two!" They turned around to see Jess and Rory standing in front of Luke's diner. "I need coffee, Luke!" Luke smiled and got up with Lorelai. Holding hands, they went down to the diner to get coffee.... ******************************** Here is where I end forever and ever.. with coffee because thats' alllll that matters! hehe Today i had coffee bread.. Mmmm good stuff well, thanx SOOO much for R/R my story and i already started my next fanfic.. hehe and this time it won't be improv like this one.. my new one is all outlined and organized. SO hopefully, it'll turn out better than this one. P.S. I know this ending wasn't that great, i just wrote it becuase i like closure =) Thanks for reading! 


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